A 200-year-old beech in southwest Poland has been named European Tree of the Year 2024 at a ceremony in the European Parliament. It is the third year in a row and fourth time overall that a Polish tree has won the contest.
This year’s winner, pictured above and named “Heart of the Garden” (Serce Ogrodu), is located at Arboretum Wojsławice in the Lower Silesia province. It was planted at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries – a time when Poland as a state did not exist and when the area in question was part of the Kingdom of Prussia.
The tree’s name reflects the role it plays in the park, with almost all paths and alleyways leading to it. The arboretum is a branch of the botanical gardens of the University of Wroclaw.
A Polish tree nicknamed Heart of the Garden, has won the 2024 European Tree of the Year contest.
The monumental common beech tree grows in an old park in the University of Wroclaw's botanical garden.
Taking second place is the Weeping Beech of Bayeux in Normandy. Spreading… pic.twitter.com/uiDrn4zbSK
— Arboricultural Association (@ArbAssociation) March 21, 2024
Heart of the Garden received 39,158 votes in an online poll, almost 15,000 more than France’s Weeping Beech of Bayeux, which came second. The Italian Thousand-Year-Old Olive Tree of Luras placed third with 13,933 votes.
“Without the help of many institutions and people from all over Europe, it would not have been possible for a Polish tree to win the prestigious title of European Tree of the Year for the third time,” said Jacek Bożek, president of Klub Gaja, an environmental group, quoted by TVN24.
“It is amazing that so many people…are working to support local tree-lovers’ activities. This brings hope for the future,” he added. Klub Gaja organises the Polish edition of the competition, the winner of which then qualifies for the European final.
Poland won the contest for the first time in 2017, with a 650-year-old oak named Józef from the southeastern village of Wiśniowa. The country returned to the podium in 2022, when the title was won by a 400-year-old oak, named Dunin, in Białowieża forest on Poland’s border with Belarus.
Last year, the title was awarded to a 180-year-old oak tree from the Polish city of Łódź. The tree – named Fabrykant, meaning factory owner, in a nod to the city’s industrial past – received over 45,000 votes.
A 180-year-old oak in the Polish city of Łódź has been named European Tree of the Year at a ceremony in the European Parliament.
It is the second year in a row that a Polish tree has won the title https://t.co/WoQoGw5wcj
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 23, 2023
The contest has been organised since 2011 by the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA). It was inspired by the popular Tree of the Year contest organised in the Czech Republic.
“I haven’t met a person who has told me they don’t like trees,” says Adam Holub, project manager at Nadace Partnerstvi, a Czech environmental organisation that helps organise the event.
Initially, five countries participated in the competition. Since then, the number has risen to 16. Among them, currently, Poland and Hungary are the most successful, with four victories each.
Across Poland, local authorities are cutting down trees – some over a century old – for "safety" reasons.
However, scientists and activists criticise the practice, saying it is not only unnecessary but also exacerbates the problems of climate change https://t.co/9rEL8P2KAP
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 2, 2020
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Main image credit: European Tree of the Year (press materials)
Agata Pyka is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a journalist and a political communication student at the University of Amsterdam. She specialises in Polish and European politics as well as investigative journalism and has previously written for Euractiv and The European Correspondent.
