Plant Styling with Indoor Trees

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | February 19, 2020 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping

Have you ever met a plant stylist? Good Earth Plant Company and other businesses like ours have helped bring nature into our clients’ environments with plants and the principles of biophilic design for many years through professional plant care for offices and homes. The term in our industry for decades has been “plantscaping,” but it can be a little hard to explain sometimes. Finally, I think we’ve found the right way to describe what we do: Plant Stylist! It’s getting attention thanks to this article in the New York Times last week. Lots of people get addicted to indoor plants with small, easy to grow desktop choices.… Read More

Show Mother Earth The Love on Valentine’s Day

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | February 12, 2020 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living

Roses are a popular expression of love on Valentine's Day - but production can be hard on our planet. Photo: Dramm & Echter

Attention Good Earth Plant Company blog readers: Friday, February 14 is Valentine’s Day. You’re welcome. If you let this sneak up on you like a lot of people, you’ll be scrambling today to purchase the no-brainer Valentine’s Day favorites: chocolates and flowers, usually roses. Valentine’s Day roses and I go back a long way at Good Earth Plant Company. For my first 14 years in business, I ran a flower stand named “Good Earth Plant & Flower Co.” – very different from what we do today after four decades in business. Back in the 1970s and into the early 1990s, our main product was fresh cut flowers, and our biggest sales rush of the year was Valentine’s Day.… Read More

Indoor Plant Trends Coming At You In 2020

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | January 24, 2020 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping

We love attending the Tropical Plants International Expo each January, and have lots of cool plant trends to share with you.

We all have our New Year traditions. Mine involves traveling across the country to join my Plantscaping industry colleagues from 45 states and 37 different countries at the Tropical Plants International Expo, AKA TPIE. It’s a blast for me to see all the new concepts and trends in indoor plant production, presentation, and design. There is so much to see, sometimes I worry whether my head might explode! (Spoiler – it didn’t happen). When you have been in business four decades, you see certain concepts and ideas recycled from time to time. We love seeing great old ideas reinvented. We also see the creative use of new technology and new designs.… Read More

Green Medicine from Mother Nature

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | January 16, 2020 | Categories: Biophilia, Good Earth Plant Company, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing

One way or another, Mother Nature provides many different ways to improve our health and cure our problems. Human beings have relied on plants to treat their illnesses and ailments throughout history. Forty percent of all prescription medication comes from plant extracts or synthetic plant compounds. If you count other types of natural sources such as fungi and molds, nearly three-quarters of all drugs today come from Nature. Worldwide, there are 80,000 types of plants used medicinally, although some are illegal. Nearly 20 percent of them are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss. Aspirin is one of the most common drugs worldwide.… Read More

Top Biophilic and Nature Design Trends for the Roaring 20s

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | January 8, 2020 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Moss Walls, Sustainable Living

Pink flamingo lawn ornaments were invented in 1957. The first one had a name: Diego! Photo: Lena Svensson, Pixabay

The start of a new year would not exist the same way without the human creation of the calendar, but Nature would still let us know it’s the start of a new cycle as the days begin to slowly grow longer heading toward spring. We also feel these natural rhythms going into our 44th year in business (wow!) at Good Earth Plant Company. We look forward to seeing what’s new in our world, along with clever twists on old ideas, plus brand new concepts. We love recycling. Based on what we’re seeing and conversations with our colleagues and our customers, we’re looking forward to the following Top Plantscaping and natural design trends to start the decade of the Roaring 20s returned in 2020.… Read More

Don’t Trash The Holidays!

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | December 26, 2019 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living

Don't trash that Christmas tree! Do right by Mother Earth and recycle. Photo: Goran Horvat/Pixabay

The holidays are hitting the home stretch toward New Year’s Day. It’s time to start making your recycling plans if you have a fresh-cut Christmas tree. But there are also other holiday items you should consider recycling even if you celebrated Christmas with an artificial tree. Here’s how to properly dispose of your greenery – and this includes wreaths or other decorations made with living greens. The easiest thing to do for most households in San Diego is to put it out for collection with your regular greenery pickup. If you don’t have greenery pickup, there are 17 drop-off locations available.… Read More

Time to Let It Shine

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | December 17, 2019 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living

When you live in San Diego, you've got plenty of sunshine during the shorter winter days to enjoy for good health. Photo: Monica Volpin, Pixabay

Are you feeling a little blue? You might be tempted to blame it on the hectic nature of the holidays, or seeing too much political talk on TV or social media. But it might not be the only reason you aren’t your usual cheerful self. Several weeks ago, we went through our annual change back from Daylight Time to Standard Time in the United States. Just the one hour of difference means most people are going home from work in the dark, and it also makes us aware we are slowly losing daylight a few minutes at a time until we reach the winter solstice this Saturday, December 21.… Read More

Cool, Calm, and Classic: 2020’s Pantone Color of the Year

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | December 11, 2019 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Awards & Achievements, Sustainable Living

Closeup of a beautiful hydrangea. Do you see blue or lavender, or something in between? Photo: LL Marei, Flickr - Creative Commons License

Just like kids waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus, we get pretty excited at Good Earth Plant Company this time of year, but for something different. We love the announcement of the Pantone Color of the Year! For 20 years in early December, the Pantone Company announces its annual choice for “Color of the Year.” We think about color a lot in our biophilic design work. While green dominates our designs, there’s a lot of creative potential in the choice of containers and other physical elements. So we can’t wait to see what might be hot. This year, it’s something cool.… Read More

Time For Thanks At Good Earth Plant Company

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | November 26, 2019 | Categories: Awards & Achievements, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living

Gratitude for another year with family and friends, good health, and enjoying everything Nature has to offer. Photo: Jim Mumford

Thanksgiving 2019 has arrived, and I’m so glad for the break. I’m sure you are too. Let the holiday season begin by telling the people in your life how thankful you are for their presence in your life. And I’m thankful I have a platform like this blog to so say in public! I’m thankful for: My mom: Over 80 years young and amazingly tireless, she is the President of The Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research. She also continues to select the art for the magazine cover of the American Psychological Association. My dad – fiercely independent and full of inner vitality – the stuff he says is book-worthy.… Read More

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Gayle Lynn Falkenthal