When Andy de Wet decided after university that he never wanted to work for a boss, he did not imagine even in his wildest dreams that he would become a world-renowned horticulturist.

Andy de Wet

“All I knew was that I wanted to work with plants and as close to nature as I could,” says the owner of The Aloe Farm and De Wet Plant Breeders, which is known worldwide for its innovative plant breeding and conservation work. Andy and his partner Quinton Bean’s Agapanthus Black Jack won the Plant of the Year Award at the Chelsea Flower Show last year.
His fascination with nature started when he was young. “I grew up in Johannesburg but my parents sent me to boarding school in Witrivier in Mpumalanga. Any free time I had was spent in the veld catching snakes. After school I started studying botany and zoology at RAU University but then changed my course to concentrate on botany. It was easier to find plants than snakes in nature,” he laughs.
He obtained his Masters Degree in Botany and knew he did not want to work for a boss. “I wanted to have a nursery. I already experimented with aloe breeding while at university. I found a book on natural plant hybridizations and thought what if I could start with hybridizations that were not natural? It was fascinating. However, I did not have money and so I started by building water features, koi ponds and later swimming pools with a natural approach. It was a long and winding road.”
Finally he had enough money to open a small nursery in Johannesburg. “It was a winding road and I wanted a place where it was warm and close to nature. In 2004 I bought the property where The Aloe Farm now is. There was nothing but bush. I slowly started breeding plants and the next year, I took in my partner Quinton Bean to assist with the breeding. Besides the passion for Aloes, therefore The Aloe Farm, we both loved Agapanthus. The big dream was to breed a black Agapanthus, which we did 18 years later and it was crowned the best plant in the world. We were elated.”
Another goal was a pink Agapanthus. “That took even longer but after 20 years, we are introducing it at the beginning of March.”
The Aloe Farm and De Wet Plant Breeders now have a large footprint in horticulture worldwide.
“We are currently working on 29 different plant breeding projects. There are secrets in plant genetics we don’t know, but you just have to dig deeper until you find them. I don’t work… I play. I just want to make more beautiful new plants that are stronger and more beautiful than the original. It is a wonderful job. Every day something exciting happens at the nursery.”
Are there more dreams left? “I dream of seeing more and more and more South African plants in gardens in our country and worldwide!”