JANE: Cacti and succulents are garden favourites
because they feature an astonishingly diverse range
of shapes, sizes and colours.
Smooth, prickly, furry, cute or imposing,
they have it all covered.
What's your passion for cacti and succulents?
It's the vast array of form and shape
that you can get within these plants.
In a recent story, I met Dylan Hewlett,
the manager and plant buyer of Fitzroy Nursery,
where I found out more
about how to choose and grow cacti and succulents.
This time, I'm lucky enough to be visiting Dylan's own home
in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
And I'm taking a behind-the-scenes little peek
at his own private collection.
Oh, wow, your block is much bigger than I would have thought.
Yeah, it's over 200 square metres.
Well, I've always had an interest in plants even from a young age,
just as I got older and actually had the space to let it all run wild
and it's just kind of grown from there.
So it was never intentional to end up at this point.
(LAUGHS) It's just how it evolved.
So you didn't start out being a collector.
You started out being an ordinary gardener
who just collected and collected and collected.
That's basically it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
As I was introduced to more specialised plants,
like cacti and succulents, I went down that rabbit hole.
So there are certain plant families that I've followed more than others,
but definitely it's an eclectic mix overall.
There are hundreds of different plants growing happily side by side
in Dylan's garden,
but he does have a few hero plants he's particularly proud of.
This has just taken on a great spurt, hasn't it?
Yeah, so this is Cussonia paniculata,
which is responding really well
to the spring rains we've had this year
and you can see it's put on a bit of a growth spurt.
It's that new growth that is so luscious, isn't it?
Yeah, and also plants like this,
like, they get a bit of movement happening into this garden
'cause they can be quite static.
Static, yeah.
Having cacti and succulents like this.
Mind you, the staticness of that golden ball.
(LAUGHS) That's right.
You don't really need it to do too much.
No. Just sit there and look aggressive.
(LAUGHS) Yeah.
Now, I see two plants that I love,
the silk floss tree.
That's it. Yep. The two of them.
Yep, so we've got a couple of Ceiba speciosa in here,
which I actually grew from seed.
Now, that one hasn't got any spikes
and this one's well and truly spiky.
Yeah, so that was definitely what I was after.
And this one's decided to be difficult and not grow any spines.
I really like that.
That's a beautiful form, isn't it? Yeah.
So, that's agave 'Blue Glow'.
And that's actually become quite readily available
over the last few years.
It used to be quite a rare specimen,
but I'd say that you can pick that up from most garden centres now.
It's a really beautiful plant, isn't it?
It's really lovely. Yeah.
It's probably one of my favourite agave hybrids.
Surrounding Dylan's cacti and succulent collection
is something a bit unexpected.
An area filled with tropical plants.
Now, here's something that you don't see in Melbourne all that often.
That's right, so this is a butterfly bush
or a Clerodendrum ugandense.
Yeah.
And it's actually a really hardy plant.
It'll take full sun, it'll also grow in a bit of shade.
You've got it nicely layered, you know, the feijoa gives protection.
That's right.
Obviously, when you think of a tropical layout,
you've got many different layers and levels to it,
so I've cheated a little bit
and hung all the plants from the trees rather than...
Yeah, the hanging baskets.
But then look at the collection in here,
that's just a massive collection of different foliages,
like the philodendrons.
Yeah, so philodendrons is something that
you probably wouldn't think of growing in Melbourne immediately.
Here we've got 'pinnatifidum',
we've got large-leaf xanadu here,
we've got the martianum as well.
So we've got quite a good range there
of some pretty hardy philodendrons.
'Cause normally philodendrons wouldn't take to the Melbourne cold.
They wouldn't at all. And I've tried a few.
Yeah. Will just melt.
Like, they would just turn black overnight and they're done.
Oh, how sad. Yes. Yeah.
And then you've got this spectacular,
very different looking Monstera plant.
That's right. Amazing.
That's Monstera 'Thai Constellation'.
I like to have a few plants in here
with that variegation through the leaf as well.
So you can also see different plants through here
with a bit of different colour going on the leaf
and that just brings a bit of vibrancy to the garden.
The outside garden is just the beginning
of Dylan's vast collection
because there's even more waiting inside two greenhouses.
Oh, gee! (LAUGHS)
There's not an inch of room in here.
This is my collection of more specific cacti and succulents.
Why are they in here? They need protection, do they?
They need a bit of protection mostly from the cold
and also from winter rains.
Ah. And why the fan?
Uh, the fan, you always want to keep the air moving in a greenhouse.
You never want to have still air.
But it also helps to keep the humidity down as well.
Humidity would be the killer. Yeah.
We've got a fair range of caudex plants,
like the Calibanus up there, you can see, which is the...
The caudex is a core sort of layer. Exactly.
Yeah. Wow.
Do they store water in there? They do. Yeah.
My goodness.
A lot of people would be familiar with the ponytail palm.
Yes. That's kind of its short cousin.
And this gold one, that's a beauty.
That's a lovely Astrophytum.
And that's probably 50 years old, something like that, I would guess.
And what's the one at the back up there?
So that's an ant plant.
So, that's actually a native to North Queensland.
It does store some moisture in there,
but the main reason for that swollen base
is it actually... it has a hollow in there,
so it actually creates a habitat for ants to live in there.
What do they do? Are they getting something symbiotically?
It's a symbiotic relationship.
The ants will keep the plant free from pests
and will also provide food for the plant.
That is just an amazing collection.
I really am very much looking forward to the next hothouse, though.
You've turned me into a convert of these Haworthias.
And this is where you keep your collection, isn't it?
That's right. How many have you got?
There's about 300 in here. They're beautiful.
Where did they come from and what's their sort of habitat?
So, they're pretty specialised.
They're found in southern Africa.
Their natural habitat would be actually in the shadow of plants.
So they grow on a very stony soil
but they also...they grow on the shade of bushes.
There's lots of different kinds of these Haworthias.
Mmm. But there's...
Some of them are flat top, some of them are ridged, some of them are...
They're extraordinary! Yeah.
So they all have different adaptions to do the same job essentially.
Wow.
The windows will diffuse the light. Yes.
But also on some of them, you'll see these raised areas,
which are called pustules, which also do the same thing.
They don't have a flat leaf surface
so they diffuse the light by increasing their leaf surface.
I found this one. That is just magnificent.
Yeah, that's lovely.
That's a cooperi type. Wow.
So they've got fantastic windows on them.
They're probably one of the best choice of succulents to grow inside
because of their adaption to growing in shadier positions.
So, a lot of people often think of succulents
as being one of the easier plants for inside,
but the truth is, most of them need
a lot more sun than you can give them inside.
So these ones don't.
Whereas these will cope perfectly well with it.
This is a bold and diverse garden
that showcases Dylan's ever growing fascination
with the incredible world of cacti and succulents.
Well, this garden will never be finished
'cause it's got so many moving parts to it.
So there's never a final stage of this garden,
it will always be movable, there will always be change here.
And what about new plants?
Maybe a new collection, not just cacti and succulents?
Something else? Don't tempt me.
(BOTH LAUGH)