Why Can’t We Dig Up Desert Plants?

Desert plants are adapted to specialized environments, particularly those where surface roots are advantageous.  As a result they are extremely difficult to transplant (relocate) without damage.  The damage is usually fatal.

Please DO NOT dig up Joshua Trees and other desert plants from their natural environment.  They almost never survive in your garden! Much of the discussion below applies to all desert plants, but Joshua Trees are particularly fragile. (That’s why they are protected).

Some years ago, we bought a great home in the High Desert of the Mojave in Southern California.  The previous owners had dug up Joshua Trees from the wild and transplanted two of them, one on either side of the driveway.  Both died an excruciatingly slow death over the first four months we lived there and nothing we could do would save them.  We were left with large, dead (and deadly sharp) plants to dispose of that weighed almost a hundred pounds!  We were advised that this is normally what happens when someone transplants them from the wild.  It was heartbreaking!

Fortunately, there were stands of Joshuas all over the property that grew naturally and were many decades old.  The photographs and seedling photos on these and other pages come from these natural sources. We let our predecessors teach us a lesson we did not have to repeat.

There are many sound reasons why you should not dig up existing plants:

  • Joshua Trees are a protected species in the Mojave Desert, so it is illegal to dig them up and cart them away. With climate change, they will be even more challenged to survive, so they should be left alone.
  • Joshua Trees are very difficult to re-establish once dug up.  They do not take well to transplanting.  The Joshua orients itself to the sun and you will not likely be able to re-orient them in exactly the same way.
  • They have fragile, shallow root systems that will certainly be damaged.  Most transplanted Joshua trees die and then you will have a large, heavy, dried, and extremely dangerous (due to sharp points on leaves) dead plant to handle when you dispose of it. They look terrible when dead. We can’t emphasize enough how futile it is to try to dig one up and re-establish it at your location. It’s a great difficulty and almost never gets established to grow.
  • Joshuas are difficult, even dangerous, to handle because of their deadly bayonet-pointed leaves. It is guaranteed that you will find out how sharp they are! Even a minor stick by a Joshua spear will draw blood, hurt for DAYS, and can get infected.
  • Joshuas sprout readily from seed, and with a little patience, you can grow them that way.

    Seed pods of the Joshua Tree

    Seed pods of the Joshua Tree

  • Joshua Trees can be purchased at some desert plants sales.  We will share a source once we locate a reasonable one, so stay tuned!

Where to Obtain Joshua Trees

What we know now about buying Joshua Trees:

  • In some desert communities, local community colleges and water district agencies actually have programs to supply Joshua Trees and other desert-adapted plants to the public at plant sales. For example, the Victor Valley College Agriculture and Natural Resources Department holds annual spring plant sales located on the lower campus. This link has some obnoxious videos that auto-play, but there is contact information on this page.  The plant sales include plants grown by students as part of their Plant Propagation and Greenhouse Production class projects. These sales are popular and offer a great variety of healthy plants for desert landscaping, including many of the plants discussed on this website. At any given sale, you might want to get there early because Joshuas will be in short supply (being slow growers) and highly desired by residents of desert communities.
  • You might also try contacting the desert water agencies, such as the Mojave Water Agency, the High Desert Water District, the Living Desert, the Joshua Basin Water District, etc., for suggestions on where to find plants to buy.  They used to have sales but no longer do.  However, they may know where to find plants to buy.

The western Mojave Desert has seen rapid growth of urban areas which have threatened the Joshua Tree plant in many places. That is why they are now protected.

They are a unique resource in a very harsh environment. With global climate change, it is likely that their habitat will become even more difficult for them to handle, threatening their survival entirely.  Please do your best not to harm them in any way.