Dendrological Authenticity of Estonian Manor Parks Eesti mõisaparkide dendroloogiline autentsus

Abstract

According to the Ministry of the Environment, there are 540 parks, stands of trees and arboreta in Estonia that are under conservation, of which approximately 450, or more than two-thirds, are manor parks. More than half the manor parks (ca 270) are also architectural monuments. Therefore, most Estonian parks are historical parks, that are already 150 years old and regarding which issues related to restoration are increasingly topical. One of these issues is the requirement based on Article 12 of the Florence Charter – that the species of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers to be replaced periodically must be selected with regard for established and recognised practice in each botanical and horticultural region, and with the aim to determine the species initially grown and to preserve them.

The interest in parks and their dendrological flora has been apparent in Estonia for a long time. This is proven by the large number of dendrological inventories that have been compiled. However, a survey of the relative proportions of species in the arboreta is still not available, although this could be of help in drawing up the selection of species for restoration projects. This article introduces a project initiated in 2009 by the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Tallinn University of Technology, which deals with researching the species-based compositions of the stands of trees in historical parks.