Arboretum in Karnieszewice

The Arboretum in Karnieszewice is a forest botanical garden about 15 km north-east of Koszalin, in the forests of the Kamionka Forest District of the Karnieszewice Forest Inspectorate, in Sianów municipality. It covers 19.04 ha, but 4.80 ha with collections of trees and shrubs is open to visitors. Admission is free.

History of the garden

The arboretum was most probably founded in 1881. This is commemorated by a boulder in the north-western corner bearing the inscription Pom. Forst. Verein 1881. The Pomeranian Forestry Society dealt, among other things, with the acclimatisation of foreign tree species that might be useful in forestry, and as early as 1882 experiments were carried out here with growing, among others, Austrian pine, eastern red cedar and silver maple. The founding of the garden is linked with Professor Adam Schwappach.

After the Second World War the site was neglected, and it was rediscovered in the early 1960s. In 1995 the garden received a solid fence, the paths were modernised and bridges were built over a stream. In 2006 a papal oak was planted, grown from an acorn of the Chrobry Oak blessed by John Paul II, and in 2009 an oak commemorating the Katyn massacre. In 2016 the arboretum was formally recognised as a botanical garden.

Douglas firs and collections

The main axis of the garden is formed by an avenue of Douglas firs with the oldest and most impressive trees. The Douglas firs here are among the largest in Poland and reach 48 m in height, with a girth of up to 490 cm. About 300 m from the garden grows what the forest inspectorate says is the thickest Douglas fir in Poland. The section with collections contains about 1,500 trees, and in 2015 84 species of trees and 60 of shrubs were counted there.

Among the oldest trees are the tulip tree, Lawson cypress, eastern hemlock, western red cedar and shagbark hickory. Beside the main avenue grows an old fern-leaved beech with deeply cut leaves. Among the younger plantings, collections of rhododendrons, maples, beeches and oaks are being developed, and a rarity is the oak Quercus ×richterii, a hybrid of the northern red oak and the pin oak. In the forest undergrowth grow orchids: the small white orchid and the broad-leaved helleborine. 65 species of mosses and liverworts have also been recorded.

Practical information

• Location: access is by the public road linking Karnieszewice with Wierciszewo, which can be reached from the S6 expressway in Karnieszewice or from provincial road no. 203 in Wierciszewo.
• According to the forest inspectorate, the garden is open all year from 7.00 until dusk. It is worth checking the current rules on the website of the Karnieszewice Forest Inspectorate.
• The open section has avenues, bridges, a gazebo, rest areas, an educational shelter and a place for a campfire. A campfire may be lit after notifying the forest inspectorate by email.
• Entrance for people with disabilities is through the side gate, from the slab road.
• In Sianów, a few kilometres further on, are the Science Centre and the Church of St Stanislaus Kostka.