Nobody has to estimate this tree's age. It was planted on 11 November 1859 for the hundredth birthday of Friedrich von Schiller, which makes it exactly 167 years old and the rare tree that arrives with a date rather than a range. It was one of hundreds. Towns across the German states marked the Schiller centenary that year by putting a lime in the ground, and Rödgen planted its own on the Geiselstrauchkopf at the edge of the village, by what is now the sports field. It has since been designated a Naturdenkmal. It is not a giant and there is no sense pretending otherwise: just under two metres round the trunk, which is modest for 167 years. A memorial tree is a different object from a veteran oak. This one was planted as public memory, on a date somebody wrote down, and it is still doing that job. One local account ties it to Rödgen's Grenzgang, the traditional walking of the village boundary. That page could not be reached to check, so it stays lore here rather than fact. If you know the story, tell us. The Alte Eiche stands about 400 metres away, an easy walk from this one.
In bloom
June to July, when it flowers
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Geiselstrauchkopf, edge of Rödgen, Gießen, near the sports fieldYou can recognise it as the modest memorial lime, just under two metres round, planted for Schiller's centenary. It stands on the Geiselstrauchkopf, near the sports field in Rödgen.
Free, on municipal ground near the sports field; no restriction found.
Not verified; no confirmed nearby stop. Rödgen is a district on Giessen's south edge, reachable by car or bicycle from the city centre.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
