ROSI and Jurgen Lenz’s cacti kingdom at their Mildura home can be traced back to their German roots.
The couple emigrated to Australia in 1991 after falling in love with the country during a backpacking trip a few years earlier, when they picked grapes and packed onions among their tourist adventures.
They ran a 25-acre fruit block in the Robinvale area before moving to Mildura in 2008, when they started to transform a largely lifeless piece of residential land into a splendour of succulents and cacti.
Jurgen says there are at least 400 different plants in the front yard, where a large Queensland bottle tree (Brachychiton rupestris) takes centre stage.
Out the back, he estimates there are another 1000 plants, with the show-stopping queen of the night and princess of the night cactus plants, and an 8m-high Allaudia procera cactus among the standouts.
You may think that this many plants on one average-sized suburban block would be overdoing it.
But the evolution of the garden, as the cacti self-seed in parts among the couple’s appropriate planting, is coming up a treat.
The queen of the night and princess of the night produce magnificent flowers. But, as the names suggest, they only come out for a limited time at night.
Jurgen says the large collection started with a single cactus plant from his mother.
It’s a continuation, too, of a German tradition where, according to Jurgen, “just about every household there has a cactus”.
It might be too thorny of an issue for you to get your head around, but this couple’s passion for cacti is yet to spike.
To help fund their hobby, they sell cactus seeds online.
During the COVID pandemic lockdowns, they cashed in on the growing popularity of gardening, selling seeds for about $100 a pop.
Rosi says her tips for getting various types of cactus to flourish is “pretty simple”.
“With our soil, we get the cheapest potting mix you can get at Bunnings and add core sand and slow-release fertiliser,” she said.
“As you’d expect, cactus doesn’t need much water. But when you do water, soak them enough to make sure the roots don’t stay dry.
“The weather in Mildura is perfect for growing cactus, and the great thing is they are low maintenance.”
As for how the couple are finding life in Mildura, Rosi said: “We love it here. You get everything you need without the stress of a big city. Mildura is the best.”
