Before the Eaton fire came in January, Altadena was a lush, green suburb. Hailed for its proximity to the mountains, its streets lined with majestic century-old trees, and its gardens, the community was a haven for those looking for a place to live that felt connected to nature.
After the fire, entire blocks were reduced to bare dirt lots. Stand on just the right corner and you’ll see clearly for hundreds of feet — views formerly full of bushes and buildings. Families have lost trees with tire swings and rose gardens that bloomed through generations.
Fortunately, one Altadenan has been working to help residents reclaim some of the green space they lost, popping up a free stand in the corner of her yard to distribute plants, seeds and soil.
Young coast live oak plants are among the California native plants the “Regrow Altadena” plant stand has started to offer. It also gives away seeds for a variety of native sages.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Laurie Scott, who works as an ad copywriter, says she opened her Regrow Altadena stand because plants provide solace. She and her family lost their garage and part of their yard in the fire and in the weeks that followed, she made a point of purchasing a small houseplant for herself at Trader Joe’s. “I grabbed a festive disco ball planter with a pothos in it, came home to put it on our windowsill, and I was just so excited,” she says. “It took the empty, sterile-looking apartment [we’d moved into after the fire] and it made it feel a little more like home. It brought life into the space, and it gave me hope and comfort. And I realized that if I felt that way, I probably wasn’t alone, either.”
She started propagating succulent and houseplant cuttings, potting them in vessels she got from neighbors on a Buy Nothing group. A friend gave her a wire bakers rack and Scott started to fill it with the fruits of her labors. She officially launched her home-grown stand in March, posting on an Altadena Facebook group and inviting neighbors to come grab a little something green, whether they had a home to take it to or just wanted something small to take with them as they bounced from place to place.
“Everything was terrible, just the worst, and I launched Regrow Altadena because I wanted to help,” she says. “I wanted to make it better, even though I knew I couldn’t undo what happened. The one thing I could do was make some plants and give them to people, to give them that little bit of hope for the future. So many of us have been displaced and are in survival mode, but a plant is a little luxury. It’s not essential, but it’s that little something extra that can make life that much better.”
Laurie Scott started her free plant stand to support her community after the Eaton fire. She offers both indoor and outdoor plants. The houseplants and succulents can feel like a “little luxury” after so much devastation, she says. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“At a time when there was so much destruction and loss,” Scott adds, “I thought plants could represent gain and growth. And maybe even a future.”
And Altadena’s residents seem to agree. To date, Scott says she’s distributed more than 1,000 plants and 1,000 packets of seeds through both her stand and a satellite location at Pasadena boba and bookstore Dym. Other residents and helpers have been showing up to give what they can, adding everything from aloe plants to coast live oak saplings to a 7-foot Aleppo pine someone had potted in a bucket. A local ceramicist has been making beautiful pots for some of the houseplants, and Scott has linked up with several local master gardeners who have helped her access other resources.
“Altadena is wonderfully eclectic,” Scott says. “It’s always been one of the things I’ve loved about it, so I’m trying to put a whole range of plants out there on the shelf. It’s really intended for anyone who’s been affected, because plants are there to bring comfort and, as my 2-year-old says, they’re there to make people happy.”
Desiree Sayarath says she’s seen the joy Scott’s plants can bring first-hand from the register at her shop, Dym. The two women met when Scott stopped by Dym after stocking her plant stand’s shelves and struck up a conversation. Sayarath offered to host some plants, Scott popped in with a few, and within just a day, they were gone. “All my customers think it’s really cool,” Sayarath says. “People have been starting to come back home, and they need something good to focus on.”
“Laurie’s plants really promote connection and growth,” Sayarath adds. “There are displaced residents who have come in for the plants because they’re still working on their gardens, coming up to till the soil and water what’s left. They’re keeping their plants up for when they rebuild their homes, even if they know that’ll take a long time. It’s like they’re working on their gardens because that’s all they have in their control. Their plants give them something tangible to hope for or maybe just a vision of what’s to come.”
And gardeners say getting Altadena replanted sooner rather than later could be critical to long-term recovery. “Healthy soil reduces contaminants,” says Kristy Brauch, a master gardener who contributes to Regrow Altadena’s stockpile. “If we can put carefully selected plants and landscaping in, we can help the soil rebuild, support biodiversity and strengthen our ecosystem.”
While Regrow Altadena started giving away succulents and houseplants, it’s grown to include California native plants, such as California goldenrod and coyote mint. It also offers a variety of seeds for black, white, purple, Cleveland and hummingbird sages, as well as apricot mallow, showy penstemon, yarrow, California poppies, caterpillar phacelia and more. Scott is working with the Monarch Fellowship, a volunteer-driven initiative to plant pollinator flowers, to offer wildflower seeds in the fall and narrowleaf milkweed seeds and plants in the spring. Separately, Regrow Altadena offers mugwort, which can help remediate soil.
Scott says she wants to keep offering free plants and seeds, at least through spring, but her intention is to do so “until everyone is home and beyond.” Replacing mature landscaping can be expensive, so Regrow Altadena’s goals will likely shift over the years as people move back home from temporary residences.
“Right now, it’s hard to look at Altadena and see how beautiful it used to be,” Scott says. “I just want to do what I can to help us find that green haven again.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
