Arboretum Bílá Lhota
The arboretum in Bílá Lhota, which you will find just a few kilometers to the east of Bouzov Castle, is a national natural monument, spread over an area of almost three hectares. You will see here about three hundred different species and cultivars of woody plants.
Information for visitors
Interesting facts Arboretum Bílá Lhota
What can you see here?
For example, multi-colored beeches, cypresses, thuja, pines, birches, Douglas firs, but also a number of rare collection trees, such as Japanese maples or magnolias. Individual trees are grouped depending on the demands on the climate, nutrients and soil.
Regarding the countries from which the trees originate, Europe, Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Manchuria and Siberia), North America or Mexico are represented.
The Bílá Lhota Arboretum is open from April to October. In April and October only on weekends, in other months daily except Mondays.
Arboretum history
The local garden used to be part of the fortress and is mentioned for the first time in the 15th century, however, at that time it was not yet an ornamental garden. The original park near the renovated chateau was established around 1700, and from the end of the 18th century until 1870 the chateau belonged to the Ostheim family, and at that time we are already talking about a modified park.
In 1870, the chateau was bought by Jan Riedel, under whose influence it was modified in the French-English style. The greatest credit for the current form of the park goes to his grandson, Quido Riedel, who planted several oaks in the park in 1898, created a rock garden and also worked in the arboretum in Nový Dvůr near Opava. In Bílá Lhota, he gathered a valuable collection of ornamental and exotic trees and raised the whole park immensely from an aesthetic point of view.
After World War II, all of Riedl's property fell to the state, the local national committee, which lacked the funds to maintain the park, and began to fall into disrepair. Palm trees were moved to barns, where they perished, and greenhouses began to be used as laundries.
From 1965, the park was taken over by the Olomouc Museum of National History. Dendrological collections were enriched, plantings and necessary modifications of the park took place. The park was opened to the public in 1968 and in 1969 the park was declared a specially protected area. Today it is a National Natural Monument.
Author: Andrea Štyndlová