From a young age Nam Truong has been interested in ornamental plants and animals. As a youth, he was absorbed in tending orchids, bonsai trees, ornamental birds and fish and later was lured by the beauty of cacti, a variety growing in sand.
Once, he accidentally witnessed the demolishing of a cactus garden owned by his friend. He picked some cacti with beautiful shapes to take home to grow. Under his care the cacti multiplied quickly. He spent time researching and collecting different varieties of cacti, hybridizing and grafting them and finally his efforts paid off. He has a colorful garden of cacti in, reds, whites, yellows and pinks. They are in nice, attractive shapes, like stags, tigers, dogs and cats.
 

He also asked his friends and relatives who lived and worked abroad to buy strange varieties of cacti for him to cultivate and multiply at home. In the beginning he had only some customers. Now the number of foreign customers who visit his garden to contemplate and buy the cacti is on the rise. Nam Truong said: “It is very difficult to make shapes out of the cacti. Normally a beautiful cactus does not have beautiful flowers and vice versa. Some of the customers have different tastes which are difficult to satisfy. Therefore, I have to try to hybridize the cacti to develop new varieties.”
At the spring flower festival in Ho Chi Minh City in 1987, Nam Truong’s cactus shop drew some special attention from the visitors. All of his cacti were sold out before the end of the festival. Nam Truong was awarded a special prize by the festival’s organizing committee and a certificate of merit by the Chairman of the City People’s Committee. His nickname, “Nam of the cacti” and “King of the cacti” came from that time.
In 2003, several varieties of low-price cacti grafted with dragon fruit trees from China entered Vietnam. They negatively affected the consumption of Truong’s cacti which are grown from seeds and more expensive. Truong said: “Initially, I intended to destroy my garden. Then I realized that Chinese cacti are beautiful but they are not durable in the changing weather. Moreover, grafted cacti are less durable than those cultivated from seeds.” Thus he embarked on changing the styles and shapes of the cacti and reduced the cost. Shortly after, the customers also realized that and returned to buy Nam’s cacti.
Nam Truong is still diligently growing and tending thousands of pots of cacti, the “sand flower”, to earn money and make life more beautiful.