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La Palmeraie - introduction & my garden


lapalmeraie

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Hi everybody 

As a newby (here at least) I think it would be appropriate to introduce myself.

My name is Niek, I'm dutch but live with my wife and two children in Belgium not far from the french border.
Therefor I'm native dutch-french speaker but can help myself in English as well. 
I'm certainly still unknown in the English speaking "palmworld" but quite active in the Dutch, French (and a little bit the German) palmfora. 
For a couple of years a even was the administrator of the Dutch/Belgian forum "Palmvrienden" but I'm also known by my own website "La Palmeraie".
The site is already quite populair among Dutch/French speakers but I'm now also occupied with the translation to English! ^_^ Still a lot work to do but I'm working on it....
The idea is that I try to use my studies (biology) together with my own experience to create/publish articles on things I missed online when I started but also main discussions as a complete summary of all the Trachycarpus species or to unravel once and for all the Butia genus naming mystery B).

Enough said about me, now a little bit about the garden.
As said, I'm at the french border in a town called Ronse. This corresponds to USDA zone 7a.
I started the hobby in 2003 and therefore have seen winters down to -19°C / -2.2°F.
Mostly I work with palms, bamboo, bananas/taros and grasses. But you'll also find Albizia's, Cycas, Japanese maple trees, tree ferns,...

I hope you will enjoy.

Kind regards
Niek


I live in my actual house since end 2009 and started creating from scratch literally in 2010:

Achtertuin-panorama-200912-300x105.jpg

And this was last year, same angle

Achtertuin-panorama-201606.jpg

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CqKkkeMWIAQgbBC.jpg

  • Upvote 25
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Welcome Niek!

So many nice and helpful people here from all over the globe.

I enjoyed the virtual tour of your lovely garden. Since I began in zone 8 in Virginia, USA I too had Japanese maples near Trachycarpus fortunei trees! Your landscape has curves and lots of interest and the chairs make me want to relax and absorb it all. 

Of course now in my own tropical locale of Puerto Rico my chairs and hammock mostly remain empty as I stay so busy up close with the plants!

Thanks again for joining the forum and I hope one day you will show up at an IPS meeting (Colombia 2018?) to meet some of us face to face.

 

Cindy Adair

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Thanks to you for this warm welcome.

Colombia... that's something to dream about.

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20 minutes ago, lapalmeraie said:

Thanks to you for this warm welcome.

Colombia... that's something to dream about.

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome !

Beautiful asian atmosphere, if you wish to see more of the buddhist landscapes, you should come to Sri Lanka, we'll offer you tea !

 

5809129ecff1c_P1010385copie3.JPG.15aa3f5

Philippe

 

Jungle Paradise in Sri Lanka

 

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Welcome to Palmtalk, thank you for sharing your photos. :greenthumb:

San Francisco, California

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Welcome, welcome! My husband is from Brussels. He and his family speak mostly French. It is stunning what you've done with your place!! :yay: I had NO CLUE you could grow bananas and palms in Belgium! :wub:

Naples (inland), FL - technically 10a but more like 9b in the winter :hmm:

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Wow! That's quite a warm welcome :rolleyes:

Thanks to you all!!

I'll keep posting some photos from time to time. And I'm also quite curious to know if you have already had heard about my website and of not what you think about it know ;)

Kind regards

Niek

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  • 1 month later...

As promised a little update:

Overview from the first floor, august 2017
Achtertuin_panorama_20170807.jpg 

Chamaerops humilis in the front garden after a little bit of "grooming" 
IMG_2952.jpg 

After coming back from my summer holiday I decided to get rid of my Gunnera manicata. Yes it is quite rare, I know. But the soil just don't seem to be suitable for it and I almost literally have to water it non stop... I replaced it with a nice looking Chamaerops humilis 'Cerifera'. 
IMG_2897.jpg 
 
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A little night shot to wrap it up. 
DEMgaLNXYAArhJF.jpg 
 
 

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Great garden. Love the cerifera replacement.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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3 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Great garden. Love the cerifera replacement.

Me too, it becomes a more palmy garden ! 

Bravo .

5809129ecff1c_P1010385copie3.JPG.15aa3f5

Philippe

 

Jungle Paradise in Sri Lanka

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
On 7-7-2017 08:57:13, lapalmeraie said:

The site is already quite populair among Dutch/French speakers but I'm now also occupied with the translation to English! ^_^ Still a lot work to do but I'm working on it....

Finally completed this job! More than 90 articles, all available in English now as well ;)

Enjoy and do not hesitate to post some feedback.

http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/articles/

Kind Regards
Niek

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6 minutes ago, lapalmeraie said:

Finally completed this job! More than 90 articles, all available in English now as well ;)

Enjoy and do not hesitate to post some feedback.

http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/articles/

Kind Regards
Niek

Impressive work. Everything is well organised and there are very good hints for beginners. Love that the most part of them are supported with your own personal photos of your own experiences.

Thanks and congrats!

  • Upvote 1

08053.gif

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Bonjour Niek.  Votre jardin est impressionant, surtout étant donné votre climat dans la région de Lille-Roubaix.  Vous avez plein de plantes rustiques, mais à la fois exotique.  Bravo.  Il faut nous tenir au courant de l’hiver chez vous.  J’ai hâte de voir votre jardin vers la fin mars/début avril prochain, après avoir été mis à l’épreuve sous des conditions marginales.

 

You might consider posting a list of your plants which are successful over winter in your climate.  Several people on this forum worldwide (in climate regions similar to yours) are always looking for information on new cold-hardy, yet exotic, plants which they might not be aware of.

 

Nice website!   Are you connected by mypalmshop.com?  I see that your website has a link to it.  I recall mypalmshop.com being a supplier of cold-hard tropical plants in the Netherlands, including the Brazilian Cabbage Tree (Cordyline Dracaenoides) which is a rare find.      

                                     

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Thank you very much!

There are already pages on the site with the collection per category but as they demand a lot of work to keep up to date... they aren't. :unsure:

I therefor just create a new overview with the actual collection: http://palmvrienden.net/gblapalmeraie/collection-overview/

I'm not linked to MyPalmshop but he does advertises on my site (among others) and I know Herbert, the owner, personally.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi

Little picture update, for those who don't follow me on Twitter.... enjoy!

Jubaea chilensis
DN7WucKWkAAyBVA.jpg

Fargesia murieliae x nitida 'Viking' - morning dew
DN9biBZW4AAyTP8.jpg

Asplenium scolopendrium - spores 
DN9bvnPWkAANOmJ.jpg

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Welcome to palmtalk,

And your garden looks so beautiful and thanks for the updates...And your garden lighting is superb :greenthumb:

Thanks for the visuals.

Love,

Kris.

 

  • Upvote 1

love conquers all..

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.

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  • 4 weeks later...

And then yesterday night we suddenly had snow :huh:
I didn't had any winterprotection installed yet, it has rained for days and the temps didn't descended that much... Luckely its almost gone already but it did gave me some nice pix :D

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Wow!

Unified Theory of Palm Seed Germination

image.png.2a6e16e02a0a8bfb8a478ab737de4bb1.png

(Where: bh = bottom heat, fs = fresh seed, L = love, m = magic, p = patience, and t = time)

DISCLAIMER: Working theory; not yet peer reviewed.

"Fronds come and go; the spear is life!" - Anonymous Palmtalker

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And therefor I quickly mounted my first (and highest - 2m50) winterprotection over the Jubaea yesterday.
Only needs a shrinkfoil around it with openings on the bottom and top for ventilation. That will do for now.
Soon I will mount the others over the Chamaerops humilis 'Cerifera', Butia odorata and Cyathea brownii as well.
The Washingtonia's will be protected ad hoc.

DQShoeVX0AAgD8u.jpg

DQShoeXW4AU7cSs.jpg

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Next day I decided to build the other protections as well; Chamaerops h. Cerifera, Cyathea brownii, Butia, Trithrinax, Brahea,...
I didn't had much choise concerning the announced snowfall later that week. As a result I had to build all of those in heavy winds and rainfall. :evil: 

Yesterday the were also put to the test with heavy wind! We had up to 8 Bft !

Here some other pix from yesterday. All melted away the same day. Today we have had 5-10cm fresh snowfall.

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  • 4 months later...

A quick spring update ^_^

Akebia quinata 'White chocolate'
DbYb-PkV0AAVy0V.jpg 

Iris 'Hollandica' 
Dcr_13mWkAEfO2d.jpg 

Syringa microphylla 'Superba'
DcU8h3hVwAAQktR.jpg 

Aquilegia
DcU8qnaV4AEcsrB.jpg 
 
DcHUbS9XUAAWdS6.jpg  
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Trachycarpus planted with only 10cm stem back in 2012 (?) produced its very first flowers
Trachy.jpg 
 
The Vivax bamboo is shooting finally as well
vivax.jpg 

 

See you soon
Niek

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  • 2 weeks later...

Added some spots under the vivax. I think it works quite well B)

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Diantus Mrs Sinkins
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Strelitzia nicolai 
DdfNWaNXUAE0CNW.jpg 
 
 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Thank you!

As winter starts kicking in slowly, the night temperatures are decreasing quite quickly. Only 3°C (37,4°F) so probably some light frost on the ground as well.

I therefore took the time to take the most fragile / tropical plants back inside again. Some of them really did well outside this last summer:

IMG_6342.jpg 

Dypsis pembana 
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Rhopalostylis baueri 
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Manihot grahamii 
IMG_6354.jpg 

And now I will also start sowing some of this summer vacations harvest as well ^_^
IMG_6352.jpg 

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  • 3 months later...
  • 4 months later...
1 hour ago, lapalmeraie said:

Did some new upgrades in the garden; changed the roofing of my pergola, placed gravel in the Zen-corner and some other new stuff. Enjoy. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W6gT37WFyk

Wonderful landscape!  Love the use of stone and the mulched beds.  Healthy plants and great plant choices.  The Trachycarpus in flower at the beginning really set the tone for the whole video.

  • Upvote 1

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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WOW! What a difference to the winter pics! Looks great, lot of work there, be proud of it!

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