The first steps towards the creation of a 10 ha English park by the chateau in Dačice were taken by Karl Maximilian Anton von Dalberg in March 1817. The landscaping plans were entrusted to the garden architect Michael Riedl, who worked at Laxenburg Chateau near Vienna. The original French-style garden, which was created in the first half of the 18th century as a follow-up to its Renaissance-era predecessor, included fig, orange and lemon trees. To the delight of Count Dalberg and his wife Charlotte (1791–1866), the work on the new landscape park, carried out by the gardener Johann Flieder, proceeded very quickly. Both Dalberg and his wife shared a keen interest in the natural sciences, particularly botany and zoology. The cultivation of the most diverse varieties of fruit played an important role in the chateau garden. Evidence of this can be seen in the second catalogue of cultivars dating from 1847 and compiled by the gardener Maximilian Frey, Zweiter Haupt-Catalog der Pflanzen und Obst-Sorten, welche in den Gärten des Carl Freiherrn von Dalberg zu Datschitz vorhanden, und um beigesetzte Preise käuflich oder gegen Tausch abbgebbar sind (Second main catalogue of plants and fruit species in the gardens of the free lord Karl Dalberg in Dačice, and which may be purchased for the listed prices or acquired in exchange), which lists hundreds of species of peach, apricot, apple and pear trees (although the range also included vegetables, such as asparagus, and flowers). However, fruit trees were planted out not only in the chateau garden, but also by roadsides or free of charge in the gardens of the residents of Dačice. Karl and Charlotte Dalberg’s son, the ornithologist Friedrich Ferdinand von Dalberg (1822–1908), later had a number of shrubs planted in the park, which provided food and a haven for birdlife. The Dačice park, which is located to the southwest of the chateau, contained a pond with a little island, as well as some small buildings. Besides an Empire greenhouse, there was also a chapel (the only structure to have been preserved), gazebos and two cottages in the Nordic and Dutch styles. Nowadays the park contains around 1 150 trees.
Bisová, J.: Zámecký park v Dačicích. Dačický vlastivědný sborník II/2003, Dačice 2003, s. 167–186.
Bisová, J.: Z Aschaffenburgu do Dačic. Čtení z korespondence Dalbergů (1809–1823). Dačice 2016, s. 109.
Mikeš, J.: Zámek Dačice. Proměny interiérů od renesance k dnešku. České Budějovice 2015, s. 23–26.
