The Fires in Victoria

Many of you have emailed me about the fires in Victoria and what affect it will have on the communities and the retail industry. The best person to answer that is someone who is on the spot. Maree Planner of Grevillea Nurseries is a garden centre owner from the suburbs of Melbourne, this is her report: Hi From Melbourne, Victoria. In the last two weeks Victoria has experienced its hottest period ever recorded. For 4 days the state has had successive days of 43, 44, 45,45 degrees. This scorched everything in the garden like I have never seen before. One week after that, on ‘Black Saturday’, we had our hottest day ever at 46.9 degrees with howling north winds. We traded until 3.30pm taking $300 (amazing really). The whole west of the state was on fire. Even suburban Melbourne lost homes. 1000 homes have been lost, and it is believed that our death toll will go to 300 lives. The place is still on fire. The state has gone into shock, and even though it is mild now (23 degrees) we are trading at least 50% less foot traffic. Victorias have been raising money, lending houses, sending clothes, etc. The community spirit has been uplifting. The nursery industry is still very confident for a great autumn. The gardens are so scorched, that many plants need replacing. No one wants to risk planting anything until March (early autumn), just in case we get more scorching weather. We decided to have a up to 50% off sale as a Good-Bye Summer (and good riddance) Sale, with $1 from every plant sold going to the 2009 Bushfire Appeal. We have scheduled it in the last weekend of February and hope to remind people that have been waiting for autumn, that we are here. Maree Planner Grevillea Nursery and Landscaping