Landscape architecture students’ field trip to Transylvanian castle gardens was supported by the Hungarian Garden Heritage Foundation. The students’ fieldwork contributes significantly to the foundation of a gene bank for the Carpathian Basin.
In the framework of a field trip from the 24th to 27th of March 2022, the Department of Garden Art and Landscape Design of the Institute of Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Garden Art, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with the support of the Hungarian Garden Heritage Foundation, continued the survey of Transylvanian castle gardens, which started almost twenty years ago. The research team of 11 teachers and students carried out a field inventory of six gardens. In addition to the instrumental surveys (geodetic measurements, drone recordings), propagation material was collected from 12 ancient trees in the Bánffy Castle Garden in Bonchida, the Kornis Castle Garden in Szentbenedek and the Bethlen Castle Garden in Keresd. With samples collected from 120-270-year-old Tilia cordata, Platanus orientalis, Acer pseudoplatanus, Populus alba and Fagus sylvatica tree specimens, the Department has established a gene bank at the Carpathian Basin level, aiming at the conservation of historical tree populations. The vegetative propagation work is carried out by the Institute’s Ornamental Plants and Green System Management Research Group and the Department of Floriculture and Dendrology.
