In May it is worth going on a short trip to Kórnik, a town situated about 20 kilometres south of Poznań.

In a beautiful old park next to the historical palace one may admire an exquisite collection of azaleas and rhododendrons in bloom.
Kórnik is one of the most beautiful towns located in the vicinity of Poznań. The town is primarily famous for its wonderful palace and park with the unique collection of trees.
The origins of the palace park date back to the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. It was created by Tytus Działyński, the then owner of Kórnik. The extended and converted the park in the landscape (English) style which characterises with large spaces of natural meadows and lawns, wide perspectives and free groups of trees and bushes.
To the present day the Kórnik park have retained many elements of such garden architecture. Tytus Działyński was especially interested in foreign species of trees and bushes, and he gathered in the Kórnik park a rich collection of arborescent plants brought from France, England, Belgium and Germany.
Until the Second World War the Kórnik palace and park belonged to the Działyński family and then to the Zamoyski family. After the Second World War the estate was taken over by the state, and today it houses, among other things, the unit of the Polish Academy of Sciences. For all these years the park has been extended until it reached the present size.
The Kórnik arboretum belongs to one of the oldest in Poland and the richest in terms of the number of species and varieties dendrological parks in Central Europe. In the park one may admire approx. 3,500 species. Today many of the specimen – frequently of impressive size – is 130-180 years old. The oldest trees are the 300-year-old small-leaved limes growing along the many alley at the back of the palace.
The park is also adorned with an exquisite collection of azaleas and rhododendrons. Every year in the middle of May thousands of tourists visit Kórnik to admire this collection. The collection of azaleas and rhododendrons in the Kórnik arboretum belongs to the richest collections of this kind in Poland: it can boast of about 180 species and varieties. In the blossoming period those shrubs delight with the splendour of various colours and smells.
In the end of May Kórnik even hosts the festival of azaleas and rhododendrons. During the festival the scientists give advice on how to cultivate these plants. Thanks to this in the neighbourhood of Poznań one may observe azalea bushes in many house gardens. 
One may reach Kórnik easily by car from the Poznań centre going south (route to Katowice). The town and palace are situated on one side of the main road, approx. 25 kilometres from the Poznań centre.

Pictures – Local Poznań Tourist Organisation