It’s perhaps the last place you’d expect to find a FEMA team, at a Ventura plant nursery.
But on closer inspection, it makes sense: people who lost their homes in the Thomas, Whittier, Sherpa, Holiday and Woolsey Fires are not only facing rebuilding their houses, but also relandscaping their property.
The FEMA team is set up at the Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura, passing out literature and advice on relandscaping.
The nursery’s Richard Flower says people in the unfortunate position of having to relandscape can make the most of the situation by picking drought and fire resistant plants. As he displays some plants, the certified nursery expert says there are a number of plants which can be beautiful, more fire resistant.
Flowers says some decorative plants even include fire as a part of their cycle, along them to survive blazes. The FEMA team will be at the Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
There’s a variety of free literature available, and Green Thumb has experts on hand to answer questions about the types of plants which are drought and fire resistant.