Wojsławice Arboretum

Wojslawice is located 50 km south of Wroclaw and 2 km, east of historic Niemcza, in the Strzelińskie-Niemcza Hills protected landscape area. Administratively, they belong to the municipality of Niemcza, Dzierżoniów County, Lower Silesia Province. The environs of Niemcza are the meridian-shaped ranges of the Guminskie, Dębowe and Krzyżowe Hills, with a diverse geological structure, crossed by gentle ravines and gorges. At the bottom of the deepest ravine, at an altitude of 150-200 meters above sea level, the Sleza River flows from south to north, fed by numerous streams. Above one of its right-bank tributaries, in a picturesque basin, on the northern slopes of the Oak Hills at an altitude of 213-320 meters above sea level, is located the Arboretum in Wojslawice.

The special natural qualities of the area and the rich native forest stand created favorable conditions for the establishment of a romantic garden. Most likely, such a manor garden, transformed from a natural forest, was the work of the founders of the new residence, the von Aulock family, owners of the estate until 1848. This is evidenced, among other things, by the creation of two ponds right next to the manor, fenced by a dike, on which pedunculate oaks (Quercus robur) were planted. The work and unquestionable merit of the von Aulock family was the adaptation of the natural landscape with its stand of trees to the manor park they established, as well as the cultivation of trees of foreign origin, including the chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum), the ponderosa pine (Pinus strobus), red oak 

red oak (Quercus rubra), or American tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera). The park in Wojslawice was an all-Silesian exception in this regard, and preceded the magnate residences in Książ, Sułów, Mysłakowice or Milicz, known for the fact that the first parks - romantic gardens in Silesia - were created next to them. At present, this work is difficult to assess, since the natural development of vegetation and, above all, the transformations of the park after 1880, do not allow to accurately reproduce its original form.

Significant for the further history of the park was 1880, when Fritz von Oheimb (1850-1928) became the owner of the 150-hectare estate in Wojslawice. To him the park owes its present character.

The small park in Wojslawice gained its due fame and recognition under von Oheimb. In the 1920s it became an experimental facility of the German Dendrological Society, and was visited in large numbers by landed gentry from all over Silesia and the Czech Republic. At the time, Wojsławice park was as famous in Germany as the magnificent garden of the highly respected Miss Gertrude Jekyll in England. Fritz von Oheimb treated all those interested in the park as his guests and personally showed them around. This gave him pleasure and absorbed him to such an extent that for meals he was summoned by a special megaphone....

World War II happily bypassed the park, but in later years it repeatedly changed owners. The buildings of the manor house, the system of water retention tanks and irrigation of the park were gradually destroyed. Some of the plants were also lost, but thanks to the lovers of Wojsławice - various institutions and private individuals, the plant collections continued to be replenished.

In 1977 the Commission of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta in Poland gave the park in Wojslawice the rank of Arboretum, and in 1983 the entire site (nearly 5 hectares) was entered in the register of cultural monuments. Since 1988, the Arboretum in Wojslawice has been a branch of the Botanical Garden of the University of Wroclaw - the two institutions merged almost a century after Fritz von Oheimb's first contacts with the Garden in Wroclaw, to which he donated some of his first rhododendrons in 1890.
The area of the Arboretum has been steadily expanded - in 1990, 5 hetars of new land was annexed, in 2005 it was already 62 hectares. Ponds and watercourses continue to be reconstructed, irrigation systems are being set up, new alleys are being laid out, and, above all, many plants are being planted, so that their number has increased many times over in recent years. All plant specimens have detailed documentation, information labels, and the unique ones have special descriptive boards. The Arboretum continues to serve science and thousands of visitors, who are attracted here by the lush nature and the largest collections in Poland: 

National Collection of Historic Varieties of Rhododendrons (Rhododendron) of the Lusatian Breed, boxwoods (Buxus), peonies (Paeonia), hydrangeas (Hydrangea), mulleins (Vinca), representatives of the orchid family (Hamamelidacee) and Europe's largest collection of lilies (Hemerocallis).

https://arboretumwojslawice.pl/plan-arboretum-w-wojslawicach/