Wim Hof walks through his garden in the Netherlands, showing how he grows subtropical plants like Yucca chilensis and date palms in a cold climate. He talks about communicating with trees and rocks, caring for rescued turtles, and using herbs like rosemary for health. The garden is where he finds peace and draws lessons about human resilience from how plants survive and regrow.
Chapters
This tree is asking, please, please put me somewhere where I can grow. I'm really, you know, I'm feeling the pain he's got, the stress he's got. Hey guys, let me show you around. To show you one of my passions is the rocks. And you see the Quercus robur. That's the European oak. It's where before the Druids had their sacred places. Together with a rock and an oak tree. I simply love plants and trees. They communicate. I'm one with them. They expel oxygen. I expel CO2. He needs me. I need him. So here I am and just sometimes just sitting here. Sitting here and being with the rock. It's massive. It's energy. Trapped energy. It's amazing. I just had it here. Like, it's sort of mystical to me. Amazing. Then I got these exotics. People think they are not able to endure cold climate, but these are. These live in the mountains of Chile. Yubea chilensis. And they grow and they are able to grow through freezing temperatures like -10°C, -15°C. Amazing. So let me show you around here. I got a little— I just made it last year. Well, actually, I had it made because I traveled all over the world like crazy. A little waterfall. Actually, I want to make a big waterfall. I always like it big. Like nature is. But I can sit here and be at ease. Like meditating. And there you see some lemon yuccas. And here Trachycarpus fortunei. That is the Chinese palm tree. All kinds of plants. Trachycarpus chilensis. And here kinds of yuccas. Here this one I had them grow. It's the wisteria. Blue-purple flowers. I let them in to marry up with the birch. With the birch. And now they are married up. It's totally inside. The big green, the lushy green, the thick green, that is the wisteria. They have come together. And I love it. Sometimes the wisteria, I tried to let it into another tree. Didn't like it. They bring out some molecules, some pheromones, anti-pheromones. And it doesn't latch on. It's amazing how nature works. It really is communicating. I don't want you here. They do something. I want you here. I let you. Hey, let's marry. And then it's beautiful. So here we are. This is all here. I got a whole lane. It's the candy lane. It's full of herbs. Come and take a look. I got marjoram, rosemary, venkel, all kinds of— in English, I even don't know the names exactly. I just make and use them in the kitchen and they are great. Wow. I had these trees chopped down there in the top and they have come back. Be strong like a tree. If you got a drawback in your life, be strong like a tree. Come back. And look, they gave way to the soil in between, so all the plants in between are able to grow because root system takes a lot of water, a lot of nutrients, and then other creatures are not able to grow. So now they are able to grow and to marry up together and divide the amount of water and nutrients. They communicate well, and they all came back, and beautiful, they are strong, vibrant, very lushy. Good. There we go on. Look like these rocks here, they look like menhirs, like in the prehistoric Asterix and Obelix. Anybody, the natives of this country, they, they used the stones because they were very rare, being taken from Scandinavia over the sea through the ice, the ice in the Ice Age. And in the ice age, coming here, and then the ice melted. And here's the Iceman. No, here's the rocks. And I put them there to feel the connection. Yeah, I know I'm crazy, but I love it. Come on. Here. I made this table, guys. I made this table. And this has got a story. This table. This is an oak tree table. I made it. And it's strong. Yeah. Yeah. You can see how robust. Amazing. Look at the nice purple flowers. They all come now. You can't smell it through the camera, but let me tell you, it's nice. It's nice. Here we are. This is a magnolia. This is the digitales. They grow here just wild. They grow wildly in, and they are very poisonous but also very beautiful. This is a plant, beautiful as it is, very medicinal. Used well, the poison, it is medicinal. And that it is, Digitalis. Here we got my fish. They're swimming. They were a little like this. That was 3 years ago and they grew, grew. Look how big they are right now. They are big. I think a heron came here and took one. Of them recently. Yeah, I love all the living beings, but don't fish in my pond. Sorry. Here. Yeah, the turtles. I love the turtles. Those were rescued. And as they were rescued because of the drought, I brought them here and put them in the pond and they love it. They love to be here and they are acting very natural. They love the sun. They are able to stay for 5 months under the water. Their normal breathing through the nose and the mouth turns into skin breathing. And it's cold ice water. 5 months. You wouldn't think that of a tropical being like a turtle. And they They feel great. They are great. They love it. I love them. See that? Get up. This is their place. There's my sauna. All kinds of little, you know, here's the rosemary. My partner is making an essence out of it. You can spray it on your face. That really is good for your memory. And it's good for your face, you know, for the skin texture. All kinds of plants here, from banana trees to digitales to trachycarpus to all kinds of vines. It still has to grow. Good. I love growing. Some apple trees over there, pear trees. Nice going. And when I mow the grass, I always see the little flowers, wildflowers coming in. I just keep them until they go away again, then I do the, the mowing. Rocks everywhere. Chinese onyx rocks. I call that one the elephant. It's a big rock, solid, beautiful. This is, uh, this is energy. There it is. I don't know, I'm just crazy about rocks. Look how they grow, man. How, how big They just came out. This is the way they come out. They grow up to 7 meters. Here it is already there. Wow, growing up. You see it here, smaller. But you know, beautiful color and going straight up to the sky. Amazing. This is the Olea europaea olive tree. Just 2 months ago I bought this Last one, beautiful. And I love it. And I love to share this with the people who are going to come. A banana bush I'm going to make inside and a chill-out place. Banana trees, banana trees. How can you grow banana trees? Look at this, man. How can you grow banana trees? This tree is asking, please, please put me somewhere where I can grow. I'm really, you know, I'm feeling the pain he's got, the stress he's got. And I got bananas last year and that died out. Now 6 new plants coming up and then this big one needs to, you know, flower and give the bananas. Good. Let's go on. All kinds of aloe veras, yucas. Cordelinas. Here we are in the back garden. Now we got these Phoenix canariensis. These ones, these are the date palm tree Phoenix canariensis, and they will grow like 10, maybe 15 meters, and then that would be exclusive in the very exceptional here in the Netherlands. And I'll make them able to do that. Adaptation to cold. Here we got all these kinds of flowers. Marsh. Hey, the marsh flowers coming. That is very rare. The marsh flowers coming. It's good. It's good. And this I thought, because it's subtropical, Mediterranean, it's still coming. And it got through the winter. It takes some more time to come. But once it gets grounded into the earth, it's able to adapt and to gain power. Hey, you see all kinds of vines. Kiwis we got. There we got the Campsis. We got the vine. Campsis has orange flowers, red flowers, white flowers. All kinds of flowers. And yes, now it's time for these purple and red flowers. Before it was the— what is it? These yellow flowers, you know, narcissus and all those. And then tulips I had, red and orange tulips. And now it's more ready. Now look at these poppies. Beautiful, big poppies. Beautiful and shining like the heart. I love it. And you know, just being here. Here are the rocks, of course. You see rocks everywhere. I love the rocks and being here. I like to share this with everybody who will come to this place. Because this is my Garden of Eden. And with this, this is where I gain insights, peace within, and new insights. And from there we go for many more projects all over the world, spreading the love.
