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Thomas Puhlmann
Find ecologically valuable combinations of shrubs for your balcony
Thomas Puhlmann, a trained wholesale and foreign trade merchant, is co-founder of the ecologically oriented plant database NaturaDB and gardens on his private balcony with a focus on native wild perennials and sweet fruit for the family. The knowledge he has acquired through NaturaDB must be put into practice.
Contents:
In this practical demonstration Thomas Puhlmann will show us how we gardeners can use NaturaDB to find the perfect plants for our „woody plants in containers — including underplanting“ project, create a simple plan and even uncover potential for animals and insects. In addition to possible Selection criteria such as flowering color, flowering duration, insect friendliness, endangerment, winter green, edibility and cultivation information, the ecological aspects. Is it a native or naturalized plant, a cultivar or a neophyte? NaturaDB clearly shows how many wild bees, butterflies, butterfly caterpillars, beetles, hoverflies and now even birds use this plant, so that the Ecological Wert easily our Plant decisions can influence. The Planning individual planters or beds is possible, in addition the Recording in lists, output of quantities, display as Flowering calendar and clear presentation, how much and which animal species could benefit from this planning.
New: With Compositions would like to show you NaturaDB projects/operational situations implemented in practice, Balcony here, as inspiration, which are valuable for insects, look (aesthetically) beautiful and are ideally also easy to care for. Please feel free to submit your proven and beautiful tub compositions.
New: Calendar of garden events
The NaturaDB team welcomes bug reports, suggestions, opportunities for improvement and good photos — feel free to write to them to help make NaturaDB better, including beautiful, proven plant compositions.
Anyone who has tested this database will appreciate it and enjoy accessing it again and again, sometimes even on a daily basis. In response to multiple requests and thanks from the community for this free tool, a “Support function (donation option)” set up.
NaturaDB list: Organic balcony: Collection of proven woody plants in tubs — 105 so far!
Please add shrubs that have proven themselves in containers and have been doing well for 2–3 years.
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26 Responses
I’m jumping for joy and butterflies are doing somersaults in my stomach!
Just yesterday I was thinking how great it would be if there was a tool where I could search for the conditions I have. Today I discover your video.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone involved, you are doing a wonderful job. 😍🤩
Thank you very much for this detailed guide to Natura DB. I’ll be working on it over the winter and acquiring more knowledge about the plants.
Thank you for the great and practical presentation. I really enjoy using the app as it is very informative and helpful.
The ornamental apple coccinella has been growing well in my pot for 3 years. The flowers are numerous and very well visited by various wild bees and bumblebees. The bumblebees fly daily weeks in advance to check whether there are already flowers! You can make a delicious jam/jelly from the many small apples. I have dwarf bellflower and Carthusian carnations and some flower bulbs as underplanting… and whatever else comes by itself…
I can only say — you never stop learning. I’ve been using NaturaDB for a long time, but I hadn’t noticed the „Compositions“ link until today. How practical and helpful. Thank you very much.
Dear Thomas, dear Birgit 💚
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. I always say I have you in my back pocket. I love Natura DB and will never tire of recommending you to others.
All the best for you and your team
Sincerely, Jana
Thank you Jana! Very sweet 🙂
LG Thomas
Hello Thomas, hello to you,
So you’ve come up with ideas again. I am still enthusiastic about your website NaturaDB = Natura Database. My lists on your site are now growing because I have so many things on my mind. I’m sure you’re also bubbling over with ideas to make your NaturaDB site even more effective. That’s why I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you again for a request I once made to you. To show me in my various lists where I have saved the individual plant portraits.
I would like to take up what Birgit Schattling said: filter out at the beginning of your page or display a setting option for „wintergreen“ plants, for example. Example: I had a Christmas rose in one of my balcony boxes last winter. This plant produced flowers all winter long — regardless of hail, rain, storms, icy cold or snow (!!!) and the flower-bearing stems stood like a charm (1).
If you have already selected plant portraits and saved them on the specially created lists, then there is already the option of clicking on Other to display wintergreen plants, ok.
So, thanks for your presentation, I know how time-consuming it can be to create a presentation — I’ve learned that too. It can be addictive.
Best wishes from Bremen, on the Weser
Hi Manuela,
I’m pleased to read you here too. Yes, we have lots of ideas 😉
That’s right, the filter option to display „wintergreen“ plants already exists!
Kind regards
Thomas
Very user-friendly and comprehensive database with ever new functions. Many thanks for this valuable work!
Many thanks for the great contribution. I also enjoy following how the site continues to develop.
As the topic this time was woody plants and their underplanting, I had the idea that it would be useful if you could also filter for „Tolerates root pressure: yes, suitable for underplanting trees“ on NaturaDB. You can look it up for the individual plants, but I have to click on each one individually; a filter would be much easier.
Hi Evelyn,
Very good idea, I’ll take it on board!
Kind regards
Thomas
NaturaDB is great. In our area, even people without a balcony or garden use it. It’s the best app for non-professionals. Absolutely user-friendly and really great as an app.
and you have the birds inside with you. For me, it’s also important to show people what’s possible. The list function is just great for that.
The only thing I would like to see is for the list functions to be extended to include insects and birds. That way you can better show the diversity in your balcony garden and illustrate what natural planting can achieve. Especially on balconies. Most people can’t believe the diversity that a balcony or roof terrace can bring. And when I think about what’s buzzing around here. That would be really helpful. I was also able to identify many of the species using the app.
Thank you very much for your work. You are really making an important contribution. Thanks to NaturaDB, I have discovered plants that grow peacefully here and create habitats.
You guys are really great. I am just glad that you are doing this.
Hi Sarah,
The „bird world“ is not quite finished yet. As soon as we have finished the topics, they will of course also become part of the list statistics 🙂
Thank you for your lovely comment!
Kind regards
Thomas
Dear Thomas,
NaturaDB is and remains THE hit! And new, practical functions have already been added! It’s unbelievably brilliant what you’ve created!!!
I use this app all the time and as a beginner in my 4th year of balcony planting (I didn’t know anything about plants before), it’s so uuuuuunally helpful!!!
Birgit’s BioBalkon congresses and your app are an ingenious combination to encourage you to take concrete action with tangible know-how 🙂 And it’s so much fun!!!
Thank you!!!!!
Hi Andrea,
virtually from zero to one hundred?
That’s great to read and makes us very happy, doesn’t it Birgit? 😉
LG Thomas
Yes, from zero to 100! The extinction of species bothered me so much that I thought I had to do something. Because what’s extinct is gone. I thought, what can I do with a balcony? …I had no idea then… 😆
Andrea, we’re taking it even further :). Thanks to NaturaDB
Dear Thomas, dear Birgit, thank you for the presentation and the great information.
I could add the normal blackcurrant to the list of shrubs, very popular with bumblebees and hoverflies, for 3 years in a 40 l tub, this year I harvested a pound of berries and the birds also got some.
Thank you again for your tireless work!
Sincerely, Christa
A super nice database, which I already marveled at during the last Organic Balcony Congress. Thank you very much for this great tool.
When I look at the purchase recommendations, I remember bad experiences with shipping plants that arrived completely broken. Do you have any recommendations for good mail-order nurseries?
He explained that at the last congress. It’s quite difficult to change that, but they’re working on it. There are already more in there.
I may be able to help you. Here at the congress there are recommendations on the website. And what is also helpful is the map at „A thousand gardens, a thousand species“
Personally, I can recommend „Wildpflanzen Strickler“ and also „Wildpflanzen Becker“. Swap meets and organic garden fairs are also always cool.
Thank you very much. I’ll have another look around the site.
Thank you for the practical demonstration. It helped me a lot to use your database correctly,
In addition to the vast amount of data, I also think it’s great that there are so many pictures.
Dear Thomas Puhlmann and the entire NaturaDB team :-))
Thank you very much for your being, doing and also to you dear Birgit for imparting this knowledge, the possibilities of (re)acquiring/reclaiming it and passing it on. :-))
But I do have one wish for NaturaDB…
When I clicked on the link to the compositions in my „My own lists“, I noticed that:
— at the end of (in my case) 10 lists again a total overview appears…thank you — thank you — thank you!…where again the plants deposited by me are expressed in categories and numbers…so how many in total, how many of them are native or even invasive…ect.
I would like to be able to click on these fields to see a complete overview of what plants are hidden behind the numbers/the plants I have saved.
— My concern here is…I have saved 2 invasive neoohytes…but with 10 lists and over 500 plants I would have to search individually to find out exactly which ones they are.
But…if not, it doesn’t matter, because what you have already created…just Wouwww! Thank you very much!
Best regards from Sylvia Jopp.
Hello Sylvia,
A heartfelt thank you!
That’s a good hint. Let’s see if we can solve this in the short term.
We have in mind to develop the lists even more „targeted“ in the future. At the moment, you can use them for planning, remembering or recording existing plants. We would like to separate the last point in particular so that it is possible to cover „My garden“. There are other interesting things to record here. I am thinking, for example, of animals spotted, existing nature modules, storing your own photos, etc.
LG Thomas
Dear Thomas,
THAT sounds really promising! :-)) I’m very excited about it and am already looking forward to it!
That way, I don’t have to search through my own photos to find out who was/is at which plant, but can see it all at a glance/click in your great database.
This makes it easier and more interesting to look at your own photos in context and to create an understanding of them when showing them to other people.
Thank you very much for your tirelessness and for your openness to further development (because you have the know-how to implement it) in response to the wishes of the users.
Best regards, sends Sylvia Jopp.
Hi there!
Thank you for this great presentation. I found it really hard to stay tuned while watching because I just wanted to let off steam straight away on the site. A really great tool, especially as I’m not entirely happy with my balcony.