The cactus lover

If Holger Dopp could choose to be a cactus, he would become a Carnegiea gigantea. The largest cactus in the world, it can rise as high as a house, its columns growing to a metre in girth. No cowboy in Arizona rides into the setting sun without one looming somewhere in the background. Holger Dopp, by contrast, is of medium height. His round, genial face, topped with a moustache, is shaded by a straw hat. His belly pushes against a blue checked shirt and a practical, many-pocketed waistcoat. On his feet are green rubber slippers. Had he been a gigantea, he would now, at the age of 80, be preparing to flower. He would still have several centuries ahead of him: the saguaro, as the columnar cactus is commonly known, can live for more than 300 years. “Then I wouldn’t have to part with my cactus collection so soon,” Holger Dopp sighs...