An arboretum is a botanical garden for groves. The Späth-Arboretum was founded in 1879 by Franz Späth as house park and plantation exhibition of the world’s then-largest tree nursery.

Since 1961 Berlin’s Humboldt University uses it for teachings, research and public relations. The 3.5 ha area accommodates 1.200 kinds of groves, among them numerous newly cultured groves by Späth. Besides the park-like grove collection the arboretum has a stone garden, a pond and the systematic branch with medicine and spice plants.

Since 1966 Sunday guides with morning concerts take place in the arboretum in cooperation with the district’s authority. In 1998 the Späth-Arboretum belonging to the Berlin Humboldt University’s biological department – as first institution in Germany - was conferred the medal of honor by the International Dendrology Society as a sign of its distinctiveness and conservation dignity.