Lithuania participates in the European Tree of the Year competition with a special oak tree near Vilnius.
‘Children of nature’ is what the family of Otonas and Irena Petrauskai call themselves. When they decided to swap the hustle and bustle of the city for the tranquillity of the suburbs, they looked for a special refuge in nature.
“Old, mature trees, a hill and the surroundings all caught my eye,” Otonas Petrauskas says of the place they settled in outside Vilnius. “There’s no social background, no construction, nothing to see. It’s real nature.”
The main attraction of the homestead is an old oak tree which is almost two hundred years old.
“It was love at first sight,” shares Irena Petrauskienė. “We were living in Vilnius, but as I was walking around this area, I saw it and I was struck, so much so that I said, I want to live here, I want to spend my adulthood here.”
The Varniškės Oak won the Lithuanian Tree of the Year title last year. Now it is competing for a European title.
In the “Eurovision of Trees” competition, the Lithuanian oak will run against 14 giants from Ukraine, Latvia, Poland, Italy, and other countries.
According to tree expert Sigitas Algis Davenis, head of the Arboricultural Centre, the competition is fierce, but what makes Varniškės Oak stand out from the rest is the structure of its crown.
“Growing in a semi-open area, it was not forced to reach upwards. As a result, it is rather low for an oak tree, but it has developed a spherical crown. And that’s what makes it unique,” says Davenis.
The tree is still relatively young. However, it already warrants protection, the tree expert believes.
In the past, Lithuania has nominated for the competition the Basanavičynė Chestnut tree in the village of Ožkabaliai.
Voting in the Tree of the Year competition is open until February 24 here.
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