Lester Meyers, cactus grower, Gilgandra 2827

LESTER Meyers has been growing cactuses since 1948, when he was still at school. It’s like an addiction, he says.

TWAM-20150321 EMBARGO FOR TWAM 21 March 2015 NO REUSE WITHOUT PERMISSION Lester Meyeres, cactus gardener Pic : Man Tsun Cheung

LESTER Meyers is a patient man.

Patience is a good thing when your hobby is raising cactuses from seed. They grow at a glacial pace, frequently stab you, and can take years to flower. But oh, when they do! The sight of those jewel-like buds is a thrill that’s made sweeter by all the waiting, he says. Of course, patience has its limits. One of his specimens, Pachycereus pringlei, is 42 years old and still hasn’t flowered. “I don’t think I’ll see it in my lifetime,” he sighs, “but it might surprise me.”

Meyers, 74, started his collection as a schoolboy in 1948, at a time when cactus seeds were hard to come by — he had to mail his orders to a dealer in Mexico. Seeking out new varieties soon developed into a full-blown addiction. “And like all addictions, you have to be careful it doesn’t get out of hand.” He crossed that line in 1972, perhaps, when he bought a half-acre block near his home in Gilgandra, NSW, just to accommodate his growing collection. Orana Cactus World, it’s now called; he’s pictured there in this shot from the 2015 National Photographic Portrait Prize.

The retired carpet-layer has always had a thing for spines. “The bigger and heavier the spine, the more beautiful the plant. And the more vicious, too.” He won’t even hazard a guess at the number of cactuses he has — “I might get a shock and think, ‘I’d better start winding down…’” – but with no family, he’s free to spend every day tending to them. When they’re young they need a lot of TLC, he says.

Does he ever talk to them? There’s a pause. “I threaten them,” he replies, darkly. “Some of them can get a bit cantankerous and won’t grow, so I get the butcher’s cleaver out to warn them.” Really? Another pause; then he laughs. “I’m pulling your leg,” he says.