I have always been a fan of Yann Mumber’s enthusiasm for water gardening. He’s someone who works to share his passion, not to gain money.
His home page says it all. Well, almost. If it did we wouldn’t feel the need to write a piece about him. His new website instantly gives off that vibe of dedication and desire to share knowledge. That is also exactly the feeling we had when visiting him in August 2017.
And honestly, take a look at that picture with his Victoria, he did a hell of a job there and he knows it 😉
Yann Mumber, the pirate
Yann Mumber was born on the 4th of January 1976 at Marseille, the second largest city of France. In 1996 he graduated there.
His great-grandmother was born in Madagascar, so within the family it is said that they are descendants of pirates. A myth we presume, or not? In any case, Yann does not seem to settle down easily and travels around to gain more knowledge.
Yann does not seem to be a fan of big cities and went to study in Lambesc, a town with 30 times less inhabitants then Marseille. There he graduates in 1999 as an advanced technician in Horticultural and Special Productions specialized in floral productions.
Yann wanted to gain more knowledge and went to study abroad. He went to an even smaller town in Switzerland, named Lullier, with only 1287 inhabitants. He graduated as an engineer in Horticultural and Special Productions in 2003.
Six years later he settles down in Martigues and starts his nursery, only 1 hour drive from his birthplace Marseille.
His treasures
Nymphaea Attraction: La Redoute delivered him his first treasure
Whenever you think that a question might get boring, you get a surprising answer instead.
When we asked about the first treasure ever for this little pirate, the answer was the well-known Nymphaea Attraction.
In 1984 at the age of 8, Yann Mumber gets his first Nymphaea, a gift from his grandparents. I think you can see them as very early investors in Yann’s nursery. I wonder if they knew the effect their present would have on their grandson’s future.
Apparently, this Nymphaea ‘Attraction’ was bought not from the garden center next door, but out of the ‘La Redoute’ catalogue. ‘La Redoute’ was the first mail order company ever founded in France, specialised in ready to wear apparel and home decor. Not really the place to look for a waterlily, is it?
I have to be honest, it’s the first time I’ve heard that they also sold waterlilies in those catalogues and Yann is definitely the first interviewee that bought a waterlily this way. I was also surprised to read that Marliac worked with La Redoute at that time to sell their plants. This Nymphaea ‘Attraction’ came from Latour-Marliac, a nursery Yann never heard of at that time.
Yann about his Nymphaea Attraction: “this one accompanied me everywhere I went, except to Switzerland, because I had no possibility at all to grow aquatics there. Half barrels, boat hulls, water bowls for horses… As long as I had something that could hold water and let her grow, this lady would come along.”
Nelumbo Perry’s Giant Sunburst: Jardin Aquatique
The way he obtained his first waterlily was totally different form how Yann Mumber bought his first lotus.
It took him a lot more time to buy this one, almost 14 years. At the age of 22 he bought Nelumbo ‘Perry’s Giant Sunburst’ from Gérard Malinvaud at Jardin Aquatique.
I bet this time he was the one that didn’t know the effect this would have on his future. This encounter had a lot of influence on the course of his professional life, as you will read further down this page.
Nymphaea Jane’s Cotton Candy 2013
You might have heard of this lady, named after his grandmother Jane. Yes, the very one that gave him his first waterlily, the Nymphaea Attraction. It seems only logical to name his first hybrid after her.
It is a natural hybrid that he collected from a seedpod of a Nymphaea Perry’s Fire Opal. This was just something he wanted to try out for fun, germinating and growing from seed, it worked out well apparently.
His fleet
We know that Yann Mumber was interested in waterlilies when he was just a kid. “They were like a mystery to me: “How are the leaves floating? How does the plant grow? How does the flower comes out of the water?” It all seemed like magic to me and my curiosity was triggered.”
So it’s no surprise that even living in an apartment he did everything he could to have a pond.
That pirate blood seems to hold some truth, how would he think of using ship hulls as a pond if not?
He used hulls from stranded boats that he filled up with water. These were his very first ponds. He was allowed to put them on the piece of land where later he build Le Jardin Nelumbo.
As soon as his parents had a house with garden, he dug his first conventional pond (2×4 meters).
Meanwhile, the fleet has expanded considerably with a series of beautiful ponds in various shapes and sizes.
His intrest in lotus came a lot later, thanks to an article of Gérard Malinvaud about the multiplication of Nelumbo ‘Mrs Perry D. Slocum’ and Nelumbo ‘Momo Botan’
Present 🙂
Well, if you feel like giving Yann Mumber a present, here’s what still on his list: Nymphaea ‘Super Moon’, Nelumbo ‘Jade in Jinling’ or you can offer him a visit to Longwood Gardens, he wouldn’t say no.
Future
If you are a hybridiser and you have no idea what to do next, here are some tips from Yann.
His perfect waterlily would be a heavy bloomer, the flower needs to be held high above the water surface, she has to have a nice strong smell and preferable have a blue tone.
The perfect lotus would be of course a heavy bloomer, single flower, dark red with a bright yellow seed capsule.
If you think you’ve achieved this, please contact Yann Mumber and myself 🙂
Le Jardin Nelumbo, his port
Of course it is impossible to talk about Yann Mumber, without mentioning his haven, Le Jardin Nelumbo, his pride and joy.
Even though Yann has settled down now, the pirate is never far away in Le Jardin Nelumbo. If you visit don’t forget to search for it…
Le Jardin Nelumbo was founded in 2009 at Martigues. Yann Mumber chose Martigues for its Mediterranean climate with early spring and mild winter. Although his choice also means he needs to protect his lotus from the Mistral, which he does with a chain of bamboo.
Yann certainly does not want to impose his ideas on his surroundings, but wants to work together with nature to have the best results.
For example, he waits for the crickets to sing to take the plants out of the greenhouse. He also waits for the pine tree pollen to harvest and divide his lotuses.
He even put beehives on his premises to get rid of aphis. Le Jardin Nelumbo is the perfect example of how you can have a nursery without damaging the natural environment and I think Yann has a lot to teach us on this topic as well.
The main goal of Le Jardin Nelumbo is to be a garden, just like the name states. “It should under no circumstances become a tuber-factory where the plants are no more than a sales item. I have an immense respect for the living, plants as well as animals” he says. We know that’s not just talk. And if you visit him, you will know that too.
“I would also like to help the growth of watergardening in France, the same way my forerunner Gérard Malinvaud did. Popularise plants that you can only find in botanic gardens. Convey my passion for the kingdom of plants and my fascination for their possibility to adapt to all the natural environments of our planet.”
A responsibility towards the customers, that is also a very important issue for Yann Mumber.
“You have to do everything in order to be sure the plant survives and flourishes at the customer’s place. Sometimes that includes rejecting to sell in certain cases or guide the customers to a more suitable solution if needed. My first interaction with my clients is always more of an interrogation… how many hours of sun, how deep is the pond, any fish in the pond? … My biggest reward ever is to receive their pictures a few months later.”
We visited Le Jardin Nelumbo in August 2017 and we strongly advice you to do the same.
Address:
Quartier de Saublan, 13500 Martigues, France
Open to the public from:
the beginning of March until the end of September
Wednesday until Saturday
14h30 until 17h00
Website:
http://www.le-jardin-nelumbo.com
Victoria
Let’s be honest here, not many of our colleagues can tell us about Victoria, but Yann Mumber is definitely one of them.
Why a Victoria?
“I never dreamed of cultivating a Victoria….it was like an unreachable dream… For me, she is the queen and the most charming one of the family of waterlilies. If there would be a top ranking of the 7th wonders of the plant kingdom, the Victoria would be in the top 3 without a doubt (and of course the lotus wouldn’t be too far behind!)”
When did you decide to try Victoria?
“I have introduced the Victoria cruziana to Le Jardin Nelumbo in 2008. I’ve got my knowledge from the books of Perry Dean Slocum and later on from the experience of Gérard Malinvaud. Gérard who is, as far as I know, the only nurseryman in France who managed to tame the Victoria with it’s very complicated multiplication. To introduce the Victoria at Le Jardin Nelumbo was a unique experience for me and definitely one of the most beautiful memento of the garden! The first flower was something unspeakable, a true gift of mother nature, and I felt like a privileged bystander. Since then the Victoria family has grown, with first the amazonica and later on the Longwood hybrids.”
Lotus les connaître et les réussir sous nos climats
There is a good chance the title of this book rings a bell, if you check our website regularly that is. If not, it’s time to check our website more often and it’s even more urgent to buy his book now.
The book
This book was published in 2017 and you can read our review here (Dutch review). But given that this book came out on the 4th of May 2017 and had already sold over 2000 copies at the end of June, I don’t know if you even have to read the review, before buying. At the moment it is only available in French, not a problem for my customers, but of course a lot of people would love to see it translated in English at least.
We asked Yann why he felt the need to publish a book about lotus.
“First of all because of the lack of one in French. In contradiction to waterlilies that have enough good quality books, Europeans stil think that lotus is a tropical, non hardy. Most people know nothing about the cultivation and multiplication of lotus. If you don’t take the time to study a little bit about lotus, this ignorance often leads to an even bigger deception and irritation towards lotus.
As much as I’m not worried when people buy a waterlily, the more I worry and give information when it comes to lotus. There are a few rules to follow when buying a lotus, like the period of multiplication,….”
Gérard Malinvaud
There’s no such thing as a lonesome pirate, we wold like to introduce you to his partner in crime. You might have noticed that his name already came up more than 10 times in this article and of course he is the co-author of this wonderful book.
About 20 years after their first encounter (when Yann bought his first lotus) these two wrote a book together. The idea came to life when they met again in 2010.
“Although Gérard Malinvaud worked hard to introduce lotus in France, it didn’t have much result. Despite the fact he is the precursor of watergardening in France, especially regarding lotus…. he was at the point of introducing bowl lotus in France in 1998/1999 when his dream crudely came to an end… I have almost pestered him to be the co-author of this book…It was a way to honour his work at Jardin Aquatique.”
Yann’s words about his friend
“Above all, he is a friend, but he is also my teacher and mentor… We joke a lot, the two of us, because he considers me as his Padawn! So to me he is the Yoda Master of French watergardening.
He had the chance to meet Perry Dean Slocum and Dr. Robert Kirk Strawn. That made it possible for him to introduce for the very first time on French soil some mythical waterlilies and lotus. Nymphaea ‘Colorado’ and Nymphaea ‘Black Princess’, Nelumbo ‘Mrs Perry Dean Slocum’ and Nelumbo ‘Maggie Belle Slocum’ are just a few examples. He had to shake off the dust of the French watergardening world, that was a little bit too focused and stuck on Latour-Marliac hybrids at that time”.
BLL (Best-Loved List)
Waterlily: Nymphaea ‘Gregg’s Orange Beauty’
Lotus: Nelumbo Maggie Belle Slocum
Botanic garden: Hanbury Garden
Nursery: only still exists in my dreams: the former Jardin Aquatique (Var) de Gérard Malinvaud
Hybridizer: Perry Dean Slocum
Colleague: Mauro Bergamo from Water Plants Italy
EWLA
As you know, a European Waterlily and Lotus Association was created last year, Yann Mumber is also a founding member.
So we asked him what the three main goals should be for EWLA.
“Make sure there is interaction between the different players of the watergardening industry in Europe (watergardeners, scientists, fans, botanists …).
Make sure there are exchanges between Europe and the other continents. Through IWGS of course, but I also hope through other asian organisations, in particular concerning the growth of lotus, concentrated in China.
Teaching about watergardening (history, botanic knowledge, protection of plants, hybridisers, registering the cultivars and botanical European aquatic species that are often endangered ….)”
We also asked what he expected from the association.
“As a watergardener, I would like a better regulation of the sales of aquatic plants not only in France, but also in Europe. I think it’s time to talk about the wild imports without any concern of the phytosanitary rules and all the risks that come with it, like the introduction of new diseases, pests,…
Protest again the purchase and resell of cultivars imported en masse from Thailand. Too often this leads to selling unhealthy rhizomes or rhizomes sold under wrong names.
To summarise: I’m waiting for a “charter of good conduct”, for the plants, for the customers and for the professionals.”