Massive cactus reminds man of his late wife

"I can't really pull it down because my wife planted it and she has since passed away. It's a memory of her." Bill Lockwood, Ashhurst resident and cactus grower

A six-metre high cactus that towers over an Ashhurst man’s house serves as a memory of his wife.

Bill Lockwood isn’t prone to pruning and shearing plants in his quaint garden but one plant he does look after is his giant cactus.

Lockwood did not expect the plant to double, triple or quadruple in size, but said he was glad it had.

‘‘I can’t really pull it down because my wife planted it and she has since passed away. ‘‘It’s a memory of her.’’ When the cactus was first planted in 2003, it was only 20 centimetres high.

Lockwood said he was surprised to see it grow to as high as six metres over the years. ‘‘It’s a monster.’’ He said the cactus had beautiful white flowers, almost as big as a human head, which only bloom for a few days every summer.

‘‘[Neighbours] all come over and have a look at it when it’s got flowers.’’

Despite having to climb up the side of the garage to clear the gutter of the flowers, Lockwood said he was happy to maintain the cactus and planned to create a support frame for it.

The tilted cactus was currently held up by a rope as it slowly drooped to the left of the house.

Being weighed down on one side was not the only problem as someone ripped part of the cactus off a few years ago, Lockwood said.

‘‘The person took a whole arm,’’ Lockwood said.

‘‘They took it during the night. That really brassed me off.’’

Since then Lockwood had installed a security camera outside as he had discovered the ‘‘odd prowler’’ on his property, he said.

But luckily no-one had stolen any parts of the giant cactus since the last incident, Lockwood said.