Identification of Fruit Tree Compositions in Public Parks Structure. Warsaw Case Study

Abstract

Fruit trees are essential components of different types of greenery, including not only private gardens but also historical and modern public parks and gardens of many other cities. The research was carried out in spring 2016 by visiting different parks. Fruit trees were identified in 22 public parks of Warsaw situated in different districts of the city and picked up randomly for preliminary study. Observations were made by photographic documentation and mapping of the fruit trees on park plans using GPS coordinates which were taken during the site visit and Google Earth maps. According to the observations, selected fruit trees compositions have been recognized in public parks of Warsaw. The compositional structures that have been observed consist of solitaire fruit trees, groups of trees (containing fruit trees, but mostly composed of fruit trees and ornamental shrubs) and linear structures of fruit trees (rows and alleys). The results of the preliminary study show that the most frequent fruit tree compositions used in the structure of selected public parks of Warsaw represent groups of trees - groups that consist of fruit trees and different species of ornamental shrubs. The undertaken study confirmed that fruit trees planted in the public parks of Warsaw have a high compositional value. They play an important role in the spatial arrangement of the parks selected, but also define the scope and borders of the selected garden interiors and create attractive sites.

Keywords

• composition, fruit trees, plants structures, public parks, Warsaw