World-renowned nursery lost in Bonsall fire

This past week, the Lilac fire in north San Diego County touched many people, many homes, animals, land and nurseries on 4,100 acres of land.

The Rainforest Flora nursery, located on West Lilac road in Bonsall, was heavily damaged by this fast moving and staggering wild fire. My heart also mourns the horses that perished in Lilac fire and the heroic work of all the folks down at the San Luis Rey Downs Training Center

The nursery is the world’s largest growers of tillandsia or air plants and other exotic novelties in the bromeliad family and ships throughout the states and abroad to collectors and enthusiasts of these unique stylish plants.

You perhaps have seen them on display at Home Depot or WalMart over the years; well, that’s Rainforest Flora plants. This past Saturday, a group of dedicated friends and volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints showed up with 350 members who all pitched in this Herculean cleanup and it was breathtaking to see such an ensemble of goodness and caring.

The fire and winds that swept over the local landscape was a real Diablo and landed here and there, and some of those cinders landed atop the plastic houses of the nursery with hundreds of thousands of plants that were growing on the tables and racks within the greenhouses. The plastic greenhouse covering just melted, and the intense heat destroyed most of the plants but some of these tiny plants did survive which was a miracle in this inferno.

Paul Isley one of the owners stated that, “we just have to keep on going and rebuild a life time of work one more time”. He also has other growing grounds in Rainbow and the main offices are up in Torrance along with his business partner Jerry Robinson.

The house where his workers reside on the property was also burnt to the ground, and they lost everything from their home, their cars and their clothes to escape with only the clothing on their backs. Look up Rainforest Flora to aid in gofundme.com/lilacfire to help out with donations.

This volunteer group is planning on returning Dec. 23 to join in for this monumental recovery that is needed to get the greenhouses up and running again. If you want more information on volunteering you can contact [email protected].

“Courage doesn’t always roar; sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying ‘I’ll try again tomorrow for I must keep the faith,’” according to an inspirational quote by Mary Anne Radmacher.

Roger Boddaert, maker of natural gardens, can be reached at (760) 728-4297.

Editor's note: Volunteers from the San Diego Bromeliad Society also came out in force to help Paul Isley for several days.