Over the course of time, it has become obvious that there is a certain market in the desert southwest for the rescue, removal, and transplanting of larger specimen-type plants. There are many reasons for this sort of activity, including ones such as the fact that wild plants are frequently endangered by new development; landscape renovation that is incompatible with cactus and succulent plantings; and the fact that certain people simply don't like spiny vegetables occupying their yards, but have to deal with ones that were planted by the prior owner of the house they just purchased.
We do remove and transplant larger cacti (not palms, not woody trees - just cacti and succulents) here at D:F Ranch. There are several benefits to doing so. One is to save these large and slow-growing plants from destruction. Another is that this represents an excellent way for us to obtain high-quality, healthy, and mature specimen plants for the gardens out at D:FR; and a third reason is that it helps us to financially support the future development of the gardens by selling any plants that are not needed for the project at this time.
If you have a mature and ungainly larger cactus or succulent plant of some type that you need to move for any reason, please email D:FR General Manager Jan Emming at janemming @ dfranch.com. (Eliminate the spaces and type the email address in manually.) We will be happy to discuss your situation with you, and help in any way we can. We will readily adopt many plants that you wish to save from death or destruction by development, or that have become too large for your yard. (This happens quite frequently with people who underestimate the mature height and diameter of that little cactus 20 years after planting time.) Or perhaps you are in need of transplanting services for a plant that you wish to keep, but must relocate from one yard to another when you move. If you think that any of these services might benefit you or your plant, please email us and we will consider the possibilities.
In this same vein, we do occasionally purchase plants from both cultivated and wild sources. Our interest is not limited to saguaros and other large columnar cacti, but extends to barrel cactus, agaves (century plants), yuccas and Joshua trees, ocotillos, and many other types too numerous to mention here. We do, of course, appreciate donations to the gardens here at D:FR, but are in certain cases able to pay for plant materials. This does depend upon a number of factors like the size, quality, and rarity of the plants being offered, and how far away they are located. There are too many variables to predict in advance what is going to happen. Once again, we encourage you to email us: janemming @ dfranch.com. (Please note that you'll have to eliminate the spaces in the aforementioned email and type in the address manually. This helps us eliminate the obnoxious spam we get from unwanted non-persons contacting us. Thanks for understanding.)
Thank you for your interest in this page, and hope that we can assist you in the adoption or transplanting of one of your larger, more mature cactus specimens. We look forward to being able to serve you.