Dangerous Plants: A Little Shop of Horrors

Audrey is fictional, but there are some real life plants even more dangerous.
Science backs up the reasons why we love horror movies and celebrate creepy things like Halloween. People enjoy the excitement and energy part of the “fight or flight” instinct. So we get ourselves all worked up to get that rush from screaming about harmless things that frighten us. Everyone has their favorite monsters. Some of mine are plants! It’s no joke. Some seriously dangerous plants can inflict injuries from annoying to life-threatening. Several common indoor plants can hurt you with their poisonous ways. So many people have become indoor plant and outdoor gardening enthusiasts thanks to the pandemic. While most plants are harmless, it only takes one wrong choice to make someone sick – especially a child or a pet.… Read More

Living Walls Aren’t Built In A Day

Rock on, Joe! Joe Benedetti shows off a newly installed living wall. Photo: Good Earth Plant Companyv
Some people call them green walls, others call them plant walls or live walls, and we also hear them called vertical gardens. Some versions are edible walls. Some are inside, some are outside. Good Earth Plant Company refers to these beautiful displays of nature by their most common name: living walls. We recently attempted to count the number of living walls we’ve installed over the past 15 years. We stopped counting at 200. They range in size from small items that resemble traditional works of art to living walls on a massive scale. Our tallest? The living wall on the exterior of the Loews Santa Monica Hotel (80 feet).… Read More

Taking Nature On The Road Again – Trade Shows Are Back

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One more positive sign we are turning the corner from the coronavirus pandemic: Trade shows are back! In the past month, Good Earth Plant Company set up a display booth at several trade shows. First, we participated in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) San Diego event. Next, we set up at the International Facilities Manager Association (IFMA) and Building Owners and Manager Association (BOMA) joint San Diego Chapter trade show. Our Business Development expert Dan Summers joined me here. We also partnered with our clients and colleagues GMBi and BKM at the International Interior Design Association show. We didn’t have a booth ourselves, but we did attend and enjoyed the interaction. … Read More

Pay Attention To The Power of Plants at Work

We’ve learned some hard lessons thanks to the coronavirus pandemic about how much our health and wellbeing is governed by our environment inside our homes, workplaces, schools, public facilities, and other buildings like stores and movie theaters. Anything we can do to improve the quality of our indoor environment needs to be a priority. Our surroundings make such a difference in our health because people in industrialized countries including the U.S. spend more than 90% of their time indoors. It makes me even more relentless about the work we do at Good Earth Plant Company to improve indoor environments by enriching peoples’ lives with plants, by promoting biophilic design and the WELL Building Standard, and by talking about this with you – and as many other people I can get to pay attention!… Read More