- 19th–21st century, 1842
The American Garden arboretum in Chudenice was established by the owner of the local chateau and estate, Count Eugen Karel Czernin (1796–1868), in 1842. This reflected his interest in the natural sciences; besides mineralogy, he also studied botany. Nowadays the arboretum contains more than 200 species of coniferous and deciduous trees of North American, Asian or European origin.
In 1844 Count Eugen Karel Czernin (Eugen Karl Czernin von und zu Chudenitz in German) himself considered the American Garden in Chudenice to be the finest and most extensive in Bohemia, in terms of the diversity of its tree species and varieties. Although the arboretum was not established until 1842, there had been an ornamental plant and tree nursery there since 1828, which not only supplied the park around the Lázeň chateau in Chudenice, but also other of Czernin’s landscape parks. In addition to the greenhouses and propagators, there was also a fruit-tree nursery, which was constantly growing. By expanding the park in Chudenice, on the one hand Eugen Karel Czernin was following up on the activities of his father Johann Rudolf, while on the other it gave him free rein to pursue his interest in botany. He was also the co-founder of the Dendrological Society in Průhonice. During his attempts to introduce foreign, especially North American tree species, many of them were planted in the Czech lands for the first time, as is the case, for example, with the famous Chudenice Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). The American Garden continued to preserve collections and nurseries until the middle of the 20th century. In 1969 the site was declared a protected area and today is a national natural monument that is open to the public.
- References
Hofman, J.: Americká zahrada Chudenice. Plzeň 1973.
Hradecký, A.: Evžen Karel Černín z Chudenic. Jeho život, dílo a odkaz. Jindřichův Hradec 1997.
Šantrůčková, M.: Krajinářská tvorba Jana Rudolfa Černína. Vznik a vývoj parků v Krásném Dvoře, Jemčině, Petrohradě a Chudenicích. Praha 2014, s. 176–208.
Internetový zdroj:
- LeO
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