A cacti and succulent collector's garden | Garden Design and Inspiration | Gardening Australia

We’re in Bentleigh, a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne. It’s the home of nursery manager Dylan Hewlett. Over 9 years in this rental house Dylan’s created a personal and idiosyncratic garden full of horticultural oddities. Subscribe 🔔 ab.co/GA-subscribe
The garden sits in the backyard of a fairly typical-sized suburban block (around 200sqm). It has an outside garden that doubles as a plant collection, as well as 2 greenhouses, full to the brim with the seldom-seen.
Dylan’s worked in retail nurseries for over a decade, and wider horticulture for most of his life. As a plant “buyer” for a nursery, he’s responsible for scouring the country for rare and unusual horticultural treats to sell to customers. So what does the home garden of a professional plant picker look like?
Dylan is into cacti and succulents, and in particular explore the species that could grow in-ground in Melbourne, surviving both the winter chill and higher rainfall. “It’s more common and hardy species that can tolerate growing outside here, to show that they can be grown in Melbourne”.
Dylan says there’s a few “hero plants” in this garden:
There’s a huge, warty Aloe marlothii. It’s from south Africa and can get to 6 metres tall, although Dylan’s isn’t quite there yet.
Keeping the prickly theme going is a tall Ceiba speciosa, “a tree with a spiky trunk from Brazil” who gets the name “silk floss tree” for the fibres in the seed pods.
A Dracaena draco that’s already got multiple heads and doesn’t look like slowing down.
Some larger Echinocactus grusonii/golden barrel cactus round things out. They’re an interesting example of a large and wide “feature” cactus that doesn’t mind a good Melbourne downpour.
Dylan says this density is how he ties this part of the garden together with the other (slightly contrasting) half, the tropical garden. “It’s not like one ends and another begins, there’s a blend. The tightness of everything in there helps that”
Here too Dylan says he’s growing some plants “you might not think would survive outdoors in Melbourne”. While contrasting the cacti and succulent garden, these plants are also unexpectedly thriving in Dylan’s sandy soil and in Melbourne’s unpredictable climate. This includes tropical stalwarts like philodendron, anthuriums and Rhipsalis. In this clustered garden Dylan has exploited the microclimate provided by the close groupings of plants.
Greenhouse 1 is home to Dylan’s collection of cacti “and other rare stuff”. It’s also where he keeps his “fringe plants that are cacti adjacent and can be treated like succulents”; meaning plants that aren’t strictly botanically defined as being cacti or succulents, but respond well to the same growing conditions ie heat and coarse free-draining soil.
The second greenhouse is completely dedicated to Dylan’s largest obsession, his collection of Haworthias. In here he’s got “over 300” plants, each one a tiny, exquisitely detailed wonder.
This garden is one that is idiosyncratic, but at the same time deeply personal. It’s the collection borne of an entire career in horticulture, and all the little plant finds Dylan couldn’t help but grab along the way.
Featured Plants:
MOUNTAIN CABBAGE TREE - Cussonia paniculata  
GOLDEN BARREL CACTUS - Kroenleinia grusonii 
SILK FLOSS TREE - Ceiba speciosa  
- Agave ‘Blue Glow’ 
BLUE BUTTERFLY BUSH  - Rotheca myricoides subsp. myricoides syn. Clerodendrum ugandense   TREE PHILODENDRON - Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum 
PHILODENDRON  - Thaumatophyllum xanadu 
- Philodendron martianum 
MONSTERA  - Monstera deliciosa ‘Thai Constellation’ 
- Beaucarnea hookeri syn. Calibanus hookeri 
STAR CACTUS  - Astrophytum cv. 
ANT PLANT  - Myrmecodia beccarii 
- Haworthia cooperi cv. 
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[@missyflutter5562]

Thank you for letting us see your private collection Dylan! 😘😍✌🏻

[@ladonnaastle3056]

thank you for sharing . I love cacti n succs, beatiful garden🌻

[@sunalifernando1312]

A beautiful garden you've got there Dylan. Love all the layers & specially the cacti & succulents. Awesome.

[@igaudion973]

beautiful

[@christinakara278]

Love that the ant plant and her ants are able to live their symbiosis in this beautiful place 🍀

[@justinamontgomery2618]

Love your collection, and I have this video saved under my inspiration so I can watch it again and again! Thanks for your tour!

[@Greenplantguide]

How NICE and GREAT collection. I watch and watch and watch and really enjoyed. thanks for sharing💯💯💯💯💯💯💚💚💚💚💗💗💚💚💚💚 GOOD LUCK ON YOUR COLLECTION

[@tarzouet3142]

Thanks for showing us which aroid survives Melbourne weather.

[@dai12nao]

Wow what a beauties 😍 thanks for sharing

[@bertharosales6033]

Lovely

[@GundamrussGaming]

Amazing garden.

[@nofapSally]

Stunning collection!

[@Blackheathenly]

Just say 'succulents'. All cactus are succulents, but not all succulents are cactus.

[@socoperez8114]

subtitles in spanish please

[@Heyheygday]

Did I see some huge peyote’s in there? 🥹