In 1708, an oak grove was planted in the Summer Garden. 60 adult oak trees are brought from the vicinity of St. Petersburg under construction. The diameter of their trunk was from 16 to 20 cm, height up to 6 meters. Trees bring along with their native land. Peter I himself takes part in the planting of oaks. Among the trees planted at that time, there was also an oak, which is currently growing in the Summer Garden. This very oak patriarch of the Summer Garden suffered all the natural and social disasters that rained down on the city for more than three centuries of existence.

In the spring of 2014, the certification commission of the All-Russian program “Trees – Monuments of Wildlife”, created in 2010 by the Council for the Preservation of the Natural Heritage of the Nation in the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on the initiative of the Healthy Forest NPSA and MSU Forest, with the support of the Federal Forestry Agency, decided to assign Peter’s oak (over 360 years old) in the Summer Garden title: TREE – A MONUMENT OF LIVING NATURE

It was then that a new tradition appeared for collecting acorns from oak from Peter’s time and for growing them on the territory of the Summer Garden. Oaks from the age of 3 years old began to hand over to the winners of creative contests, museums, nature reserves, representatives of the administration of different cities, educational institutions, as well as participants in festivals and competitions.

The program “The All-Russian Oak Forest of Emperor Peter the Great” has existed since 2019 and is a symbol of the connection of times and all of Peter’s iconic places. Planting and preserving seedlings from the oak of Peter’s time is both an invaluable contribution to the history of preserving the memory of the planting of oaks by Peter the Great, as well as the preservation of a valuable historical natural gene pool. From 2012 to 2020, the program planted 150 seedlings of Peter’s oak in more than 50 cities of Russia and Europe.

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