Description
On our walk we can see the effort made in its dissemination and conservation. At every step we discover a new sensation. Species from different parts of the world have adapted to our land and coexist with native flora and fauna. All these trees are part of this historical landscape, some stand out for their large dimensions, others for their age, originality or beauty, but three do so especially and have earned a place in the Galician Cataloge of unique trees of the Xunta de Galicia: a Chilean araucaria (Araucaria araucana), a redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and a cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica). At present, the 25 hectares of surface are destined to vineyard, native forest, fruit trees and botanical park.
Over 400 camellia specimens
In the garden of the Soutomaior castle we have more than 400 camellia specimens, 18 of them centenary. In 1982, the Regional Government acquired the castle, where it began to create a collection of camellias. At that time there were a total of 19 camellias (of which 18 are preserved), which stand out for being the oldest in Galicia. Only a year later, new specimens arrived from New Zealand, California, England or France were added.
International Camellia Garden of Excellence
Proof of the great botanical and cultural value of the garden is that it was the first in Spain to be recognized as an International Camellia Garden of Excellence by the International Camellia Society, within the framework of the International Camellia Congress held in China in 2012. It has also been the first in Spain to obtain the Historic Garden Observer certificate, in 2020.
These awards are a recognition of the effort made in its conservation and dissemination. The botanical park and the nearby plots have more than 400 camellia specimens, all of them with their corresponding identification poster, so that, in this way, any fan can know the species and the variety of each one of them. The protagonist of the garden is a camellia specimen made up of 18 trunks that grow from the very base of the tree and that form the largest circumference of the species in Galicia.
