October 24, 2021 - The Croatian Tree of 2021, and which will also represent the country in the European Tree of the Year competition, has been chosen and is the giant sequoia of Slatina, in Slavonia.

The tree of the giant sequoia, also called ''mammoth'', located within the EPIcentre Sequoia Slatina, is about 130 years old and was chosen as the Croatian tree in 2021. This Centennial Giant was protected in 1967 as a monument of park architecture, and today it has been chosen as the Croatian Tree of 2021, reports Turističke Priče.

The story of the giant mammoth in Slatina tells us about this tree as the only protected specimen of this species in the Republic of Croatia and one of the oldest specimens of this species in Europe. Following the horticultural trends of the 19th century, it was planted by the noble Schaumburg-Lippe family, at the same time as the oldest redwoods were planted in England, outside their natural habitat.

These are trees that are naturally distributed in the western part of North America, more precisely in the central part of California (Sierra Nevada) above 1,500 meters above sea level. In Croatia, as in the rest of Europe, redwoods were planted as an ornamental species, but European trees are much smaller than American ones.

Croatian tree in 2021, a candidate for the European tree

In 2021, the Croatian Tree was chosen by as many as 67,231 voters, and the Century Giant in the heart of Slavonia won with 11,042 votes. The second-placed Last Lady of the Podgorica Park had only 99 votes less, and the Brijuni Old Olive and Bricin Hrast from the Lonjsko Polje Nature Park took more than 10,000 votes.

The winner of the national competition Croatian Tree 2021, Public Institution for Management of Protected Areas of Dubrovnik-Neretva County, on behalf of the Republic of Croatia will run for the finals of the European Tree 2022, composed of winners of national competitions of partner countries in the Tree of the Year project.

The organizers of the competition invite all citizens throughout the Republic of Croatia and beyond to get involved in the promotion of biodiversity of the Republic of Croatia, participating in the vote for the European Tree of the Year to be held in early 2022, on World Forest Day (March 21), to declare the winner of the European competition.

So far, the Republic of Croatia has been represented at the European Tree of the Year competition by Platana in Trsteno na trg (2018) with seventh place, Gupčeva lipa (2019) with the eleventh place, Zaljubljeni Ginko from Daruvar (2020) with second place and the oldest Medulinka - Chocolate tree of our memories (2021) with tenth place.

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.