Trees enjoy great care and attention

We have learnt how they maintain a unique botanical collection in the Gomel Park

The Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble is one of the major attractions in Belarus — its unique landscape has inspired artists and drawn tourists for many years, while its staff have accumulated valuable  experience in caring for rare and precious green spaces over the years

Rainbows over lawns

The Gomel Park extends along both banks of the Sozh River, but the 17.5 hectares on the left bank are recognised as a natural monument. Svetlana Prishchepova, Deputy General Director for Landscaping and Maintenance, introduced a rich collection of plants, “The botanical component of the park includes around 3,600 trees and more than 3,000 shrubs, each assigned an inventory number. The engineer in charge of the park and garden complex registers diseases, flowering dates, and even every branch broken off by the wind in a special database.”
The park’s maintenance involves mowing the lawns, removing foliage, and managing an automatic irrigation system. If timed correctly, visitors can admire hundreds of fountains springing up from the grass and small rainbows forming over the lawns and flowerbeds. Svetlana Mikhailovna [Prishchepova] added, “This system has become a salvation during the current heatwave. Our two watering machines simply would not be able to cope with the entire amount of work.” 
Caring for the park is the responsibility of 25 employees from a dedicated landscaping department, all trained to carry out a comprehensive range of necessary tasks. In summer, student teams join to assist. The special machinery fleet is also replenished — in addition to watering machines, there are tractors, blowers, and manual and wheeled lawn mowers.



Variety of flowerbeds in the Gomel Park 

Climbers do a good job

In the Gomel Park, mulberries and black pines thrive peacefully alongside birch and maple trees. In contrast, species like the Japanese larch, magnolia, Manchurian walnut, and Weymouth pine are rarely found in ordinary city parks. According to Svetlana Mikhailovna,

“We must preserve this unique corner of nature, which is home to about 90 species of trees. Many of these date back to the time when the Rumyantsev and the Paskevich families resided here. In total, we have more than 150 old-timers, including two magnificent oak trees that have stood for over two centuries.”

But is it easy for these rare trees to grow in an unusual climate? The park staff assured that the old trees had already adapted. However, diseases happen occasionally, just like in humans. Svetlana Prishchepova explained, “Trees can even have cancer; therefore, we regularly examine our charges. Technologies do not stand still, and we can now detect internal rot using a scanner.” 
Surprisingly, the park is nearly free of the ubiquitous mistletoe infestation. This parasitic shrub plagues the crowns of trees throughout Gomel but seems to vanish immediately behind the park’s fence. Is there a secret? Svetlana Mikhailovna debunked the assumption,
“The only effective method for combating mistletoe is to physically remove it from the branches. Our trees reach almost 40 metres high; that is why we engage tower climbers to eliminate every sprout. This service is not cheap, so I urge every resident of the country to cut mistletoe from the trees at least on their plots of land while a simple stepladder is enough to reach it.”  

High culture park

When discussing the maintenance of the park, it is worth noting the behaviour of tourists. Numerous signs remind that it is forbidden to walk dogs, step on the lawns and ride bicycles. Just in the course of our conversation, a lady with her dog passed by. Svetlana Prishchepova commented, “This visitor is leading the dog on a leash and, hopefully, has cleaned up after it. However, there are some visitors who let their pets roam freely in the park. Squirrels live here, and dogs often start chasing them. In general, the park has seen an improvement in visitor etiquette in recent years. Nowadays, it is rare to see tourists trying to break, disrupt or damage anything.” 

Respectable couple

During our conversation with the Deputy General Director for Landscaping and Maintenance, we stopped near two gorgeous ash trees, the age of which was evidenced by the impressive height and thickness of the trunks. It is noteworthy that one tree was male and the other was female — quite a married couple! Recently, information signs were installed nearby, but the path to them ran directly across the lawn. Our guide sighed, “We did not consider this aspect in advance. As a result, people have already trampled a clear path to the information signs. Perhaps we will arrange a wooden flooring here.” 

These venerable ash trees are a national treasure. Their seed material is stored in the Central Botanical Garden of Belarus’ National Academy of Sciences. One of the giants has a crown preservation system made of cables. There is no such thing in any other park in our country. The innovative idea was spotted in the royal gardens of Russia. Other living natural monuments will soon receive similar protection, as well.

The collection of trees is replenished with new seedlings every year. Planting material used to be purchased abroad, but Belarusian nurseries have now mastered the art of growing a wide variety of plants.
Saying goodbye, we complimented the park’s flowerbeds. Svetlana Prishchepova promised to pass on our praise to the landscape architect who came up with sophisticated flower patterns. By spring, approximately 100,000 bulbous plants alone will contribute to the floral diversity of the Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble. Not even sanctions will hinder this plan. Belarusian tulips take root in the park even better than their Dutch counterparts.

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

The history of the Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble spans an impressive 247 years. Back in 1777, Count Rumyantsev began the construction of the palace and the formation of the surrounding landscape based on the already existing park. The large-scale park development commenced in 1845 under the estate’s new owner — Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich. At that time, the park was rightfully considered as one of the best in Europe. One of the oaks was even personally brought by the prince from Paris.

Gomel Park maintenance 

By Dmitry Boyarchuk

Photos by Ivan Yarivanovich