The Volksgarten Oak

Three of Graz's officially protected trees stand inside one small park, and this oak is the first of them, rooted near the Muhlgasse side of the Volksgarten. The park's own history records a planted row of oaks running roughly north to south through its centre, seventy to a hundred years old, but no source confirms this particular designated tree is part of that row rather than a separate planting nearby, so the two facts stay separate here rather than joined into a tidier story that nobody actually stated. What both the city's live tree register and Wikipedia's independent list agree on is the spot itself, within two metres of each other, and the protection: this pedunculate oak has held Naturdenkmal status since May 2000. The Volksgarten covers four and a half hectares open on every side, no gate and no fee, a five minute walk from Graz's main station. Two more protected planes grow within a hundred and seventy metres of this oak, making the park itself worth the whole visit rather than a single stop.