The palmery is the working garden that surrounds and fills the Corbeille — hundreds of thousands of date palms underplanted with figs, pomegranates, olives, and vegetables in the characteristic three-tier oasis cultivation. The deglet noor date variety — "finger of light" in Arabic — is the prized export, harvested in October and November.
You can walk down into the palmery from the Corbeille rim or from the western edge of town. The irrigation channels are still maintained, though the original artesian springs have largely been replaced by pumped wells. October's harvest is the busiest time, with whole families up in the trees stripping ripe clusters. A guide is helpful for understanding how the system works.