Lena Grivakes discovers a unique sort of botanical nursery just outside Marrakech devoted to the extraordinary form of the cactus. Cactus Thiemann is a pioneering home to these plants, set up by German horticultural engineer Hans Thiemann over 60 years ago. Today, the site contains over 150 succulents in an eerie and beautiful landscape.

The first thought that a botanical nursery conjures up is images of floral abundance, of beauty, complemented by a gentle fragrance wafting through the air. Outside Marrakech, there lies a different kind of nursery, rising from a dusty desert terrain. Set on 17 acres of desert landscape is the Cactus Thiemann nursery: the largest cacti farm in Africa. Home to over 150 succulent varietals, the dense cacti nursery stands in contrast to the sprawling emptiness and stark expanse of the surrounding moon-like landscape. Without the vibrant colors and aromatic blooms, the bounty and noble stature of cacti become ever more beguiling.

Cactus Thiemann was founded over 60 years ago by horticultural engineer Hans Thiemann. His family had cultivated succulents for generations but growing weary of the growing greenhouse conditions at home, he left his native Germany to set up shop at the foot of the Atlas Mountains. Thiemann had visited in Morocco in the 1950s to bring back some plants from Jardin Majorelle and concluded that the temperament of North Africa was much more suited to grow these ornamental plants. He packed his most treasured belongings, including a tiny Pachycereus pringlei succulent and set out for Morocco. It was then that Cactus Thiemann was established.