What is the European Grove?

On 1 May 2004, when Latvia officially became a full member state of the European Union, the European Grove was planted in what was then Talsi District, in the Šķēde State Scientific Research Forest District. Responding to the call by State President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga to plant commemorative trees on this day of such importance to Latvia, Minister of Agriculture Mārtiņš Roze invited diplomats from European Union countries, heads of European delegations and representatives of the forestry sector to the event.

The minister's initiative echoes the European Grove planted in Vienna in 2003 on the day the European treaty was signed, where a particular tree was planted in honour of each country. Latvia is represented in that European Grove by the rowan. Naturally, not all the trees growing in Vienna will thrive in Latvian conditions, and so Portugal's cork oak, the sessile oak of Great Britain and France, Hungary's Hungarian (Turkey) oak and Spain's holm oak will be replaced by common oaks.

Alongside the Minister of Agriculture, the event was attended by European diplomats, leaders of Latvia's forest sector and forestry, and representatives of the creative intelligentsia. Children from Talsi planted birches around the European Grove.

In Latvia's European Grove, a European larch was planted in honour of Austria, a common ash for Belgium, a yew for the Czech Republic, a European beech for Denmark, an oak for France, a horse chestnut for Greece, a silver birch for Estonia, a mountain pine for Italy, a common juniper for Ireland, a Macedonian pine for Cyprus, a common rowan for Latvia, an oak for Great Britain, a Norway maple for Lithuania, a service tree for Luxembourg, an Austrian pine for Malta, a Dutch elm for the Netherlands, a small-leaved (winter) lime for Poland, an oak for Portugal, a European white elm for Slovakia, a large-leaved (summer) lime for Slovenia, a Scots pine for Finland, a European beech for Germany, a silver birch for Sweden, and a European silver fir for the European Community as a whole.

The planting of these various trees forms a nature park — a tribute to European unity. In 2005, with the participation of ambassadors from European Union countries, Latvia's neighbouring countries and other states, as well as heads of state and non-governmental organisations in the forest sector, the European Grove was extended with the planting of new trees. The grove's range of trees is also being added to by gifts from the cooperation partners of Talsi Municipality.
https://www.vestnesis.lv/ta/id/87724
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