Jan Emming | October Meeting Speaker

October 10th at 7pm PST
Redlands Church of the Nazarene
1307 East Citrus Avenue
Redlands, CA 92374

Program Description: Building Forever: The Creation of Destination 

Forever Ranch and Gardens in Yucca

In 1999 Jan Emming moved from Colorado to northwestern Arizona to pursue the creation of his dream garden and lifestyle. He found a remote 40-acre desert property at the ecological junction of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts about 20 miles from the small town of Yucca, AZ and proceeded to craft a large garden of succulents and xeric adapted plants in this off-grid location. The property was ideal for what he wanted to do since it had the ecologically rare and unique combination of having wild, native populations of both Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) along with a plethora of other charismatic desert vegetation. This program describes elements of what Jan has undergone to make this endeavor successful as well as some of the challenges he has faced.

About Jan Emming

Originally born in the Netherlands, Jan Emming grew up from a very young age in Boulder, Colorado, where he developed a lifelong fascination with deserts and dryland flora. He attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Botany. By the late 90s, Jan decided that the Colorado climate was too harsh and cold in winter to grow the diversity of succulents in particular that he wanted to grow, so he made plans to find a property in the desert southwest somewhere to expand upon this ambition. 

After an extensive two-year-long search for real estate, he  settled upon  the 40-acre parcel  near  the small town of Yucca, Arizona where he now lives, works, and gardens. He moved out of Colorado in 1999 and settled upon the property he calls Destination: Forever Ranch (or D:FR) full time in 2012 after renting in town for over a decade. Living on-site permanently has enabled him to expand upon the selection of plants that he can grow.

Jan has traveled fairly extensively to view native plants of many types in habitat, having visited 5 different continents thus far and countries including Mexico, China, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Peru, Chile, and Turkey. While deserts are a primary love of his, Jan is interested in the ecological adaptations of all sorts of plants and animals, and the ecosystems they live in. He applies this knowledge and the photos he takes to articles that he posts on his blog at JanEmming.com. His next trip will be to the island of Socotra, and he hopes to visit Australia, Argentina, and Madagascar in the near future as well.