Kámon Arboretum Nature Conservation Area (Szombathely) | park, nature conservation park / area

 park, arboretum, nature conservation park / area

Territory of the protected area: 20 hectares.
Location: The protected area is situated in Szombathely.
Visitors: Free of access for visitors.
Management: Institute of Sylviculture

Kámon used to be an independent village, but it belongs to the centre of the town at present. The arboretum was started in the 1860s by Saághy Mihály landowner, who the area belonged to. At that time the four hectare watery piece of land stretching along the Gyöngyös stream was covered with marsh-meadows, patches of alder marshes and an ash-oak gallery forest.
The founder was followed by his son who proved to be a very talented designer of the park and he also expanded the area. By the 1930s he planted more than five hundred arborescent plants in the arboretum, almost half of which was evergreen. During World War II. There was a military camp based in the territory of the arboretum, later at poverty-stricken times lots of trees of the arboretum were fell for firewood by the local population. By the 1950s when The Institute of Sylviculture began to develop the park again two thirds of the arboretum had been destroyed.
As a result of co-ordinated development it is the Kámon arboretum that has the largest arborescent collection in Hungary, with a lot of rarities among them. The collection having more than two thousand taxons possesses the largest Hungarian collection of pines and a maple- and oak collection with dosens of taxons. Besides the almost forty variations of fir trees, huge specimen of incense-cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), dawn redwoods (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), swamp cypresses (Taxadium distichum) can be seen and the collection of shrubs is also very rich.
A collection of roses with more than five hundred species can be seen in the rose garden of the arboretum, the collection of cacti is one of the largest in Hungary.
We must point out how refined the arrangement of the arboretum is, which is enhanced by the atmosphere of the late spring months when the ravishing rhododendron is flowering around the artificial ponds made by using the water of the Gyöngyös stream. But the garden, very rich in ornamental trees and shrubs, and the collection of herbaceous plants welcome visitors all through the year.

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