Arboreal Collections
It started with old prints and clocks, on which the composer spent the fees for his theatre music. Then came cars and tile stoves. Eventually, it was in Lusławice that he could fully dedicate himself to his dendrological passion, and he decided not to limit himself.
The maple collection alone comprises nearly 70 species. Penderecki also had a weakness for beeches and oaks, collecting all the varieties with ragged or colourful leaves, and those of column-like or ‘weeping’ shapes.
He planted them in groups and separately in the English section of the park, as well as in the new part. On the south side he created a spectacular pinetum (conifer collection), made up of several hundred species and varieties of pines, spruces, firs, larches, false cypresses, junipers, and others.