Gayle Lynn Falkenthal

Good Earth Plants Presents Our New Show: “Law & Order: SPU”

| May 19, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
No, that’s not a typo in this week’s blog headline. In the Good Earth Plant Company version of the show, it’s “Law & Order: Special Plants Unit.” We noticed several stories about crime involving nature recently and decided it’s time for our own L&O episode. In L&O’s hometown of New York City, call it a victory for trees over vandals. The Bloomberg administration wrongly gave Fashion Week organizers permission to chip down dozens of trees and yank out azaleas in Damrosch Park outside Lincoln Center to make room for a fashion show in 2010. After we pick our jaw back up off the floor, we’re glad nearby neighbors including Cleo Dana sued to get their park back.… Read More

Honor Mom the Good Earth Plants Way on Mother’s Day

| May 4, 2016 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping
Three generations of Mumfords together at La Jolla Shores celebrating Mother's Day in better times, May 2016: (L to R) daughter Allie, Mom, and yours truly.
For those of you who aren’t aware, let me save you from being in the doghouse with Mom the rest of the year. Sunday, May 8 is Mother’s Day. You’re welcome. It’s really hard to miss it if you’re exposed to any kind of advertising. We have been bombarded for two months with advertising reminding us to buy those flowers, chocolates, and greeting cards to honor Mom. I’ve written before about the crazy time for florists at Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day is even crazier when it comes to flowers. The Society of American Florist reports Mother’s Day is the second largest flower holiday, accounting for 24 percent of all flowers sent annually – yes, one in four floral purchases all year long is for Mother’s Day.… Read More

Help Good Earth Plants Save San Diego Watershed

| April 27, 2016 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Nature and Wellbeing, Water and Water Conservation
One of the reasons I’ve always been so enthusiastic about green roofs is their contribution to stormwater management. Green roofs can capture 60-80% of rooftop rainwater runoff so less water is directed into storm drains and ultimately the ocean. A green roof becomes a strainer for whatever water does end up flowing to the storm drains, removing a lot of the particles, chemicals, pollution and other “bad stuff” which would otherwise run into our ocean. So I was extremely happy to see the City of San Diego’s new Sustainable Landscape Guidelines created in partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Helps Your Great Ideas Grow

| April 21, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
We can't function well mentally or physically when we are breathing oxygen depleted air. Adding plants to your indoor environment can help a lot. Good Earth Plants can help!
Many of us don’t have labor-intensive jobs, as in the kind of physical work leaving you tired and sore at the end of the day. Our version of heavy lifting gets done mentally, whether we are crunching numbers, crafting communication, or even shooting YouTube videos. But we’re still dependent on a productive and safe environment where we can breathe deeply and let oxygen fuel our brains. Did you know your brain consumes 20 percent of all the oxygen that enters your bloodstream through breathing, but it only makes up two percent of your total body mass? This means your brain uses ten times more oxygen than the rest of your body.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Says ‘Be Nice To Your Mother (Earth)’!

| April 14, 2016 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
We can't function well mentally or physically when we are breathing oxygen depleted air. Adding plants to your indoor environment can help a lot. Good Earth Plants can help!
It’s hard to believe Earth Day was a brand new idea well within my lifetime. The first Earth Day took place in 1970. It is now an annual event celebrated on or near April 22, coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network. It reaches more than 192 countries each year including hundreds of communities in the United States. Every day is Earth Day at Good Earth Plant Company! We love it when the rest of the world pauses to focus on environment issues and finding good solutions we can adopt on the official Earth Day, which is April 22. San Diego can brag about its Earth Day Fair, which is the largest free, all-volunteer Earth Day event in the world.… Read More

Workplace Green Goes a Long Way with Employees

| April 7, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Introducing gardens and other natural elements to urban workspaces produces a greater return on investment than other employee perks. Photo Courtesy Karen Contreras, Urban Plantations
We’re all spending a lot more time at work, as much as half our waking hours. So making your workplace a more comfortable and fun place to be makes sense. Keeping employees happy means they’ll be more productive and less likely to look for a new job somewhere else. But doesn’t it seem though like workplace trends have gone a bit weird lately? Just when we all got used to the idea of bringing your dog to work, some of the perks I’ve read about are downright wacky. How about working somewhere with a fully stocked game room from PlayStations to board games like Monopoly and Sorry?… Read More

Don’t Read This Blog Post and You’ll Be Happier

| March 30, 2016 | Categories: Biophilia, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Happiness and what makes people happier has always been a keen interest of mine. You might think it’s because I started my career in Plantscaping and green building working in a flower shop. Because flowers make people happy, right? It actually goes back even further for me, a generation further to be exact. My father, Bob, has always loved nature and it definitely rubbed off on me. When he took up nature photography as a serious hobby and then a second profession, it reinforced all those lessons from my childhood. Check out his website here, you’ll love it as much as I do.… Read More

It’s Natural Good Earth Plants Loves the Start of Spring

| March 23, 2016 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Gardening, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Sometimes when you live in San Diego, you don’t take notice of the change in seasons. It’s not all that obvious when we move from spring to summer, or summer to fall. We don’t see spring when the cherry blossoms bloom like in Washington D.C. So if the first day of spring this year got by you on the calendar last Sunday in San Diego, it’s understandable. But if you look, you will find new growth and flowers that only bloom this time of year. Chances are though you know it’s spring from some undeniable internal signals. For one thing, we have more daylight.… Read More

The Good Earth Plant Way on St. Patrick’s Day

| March 17, 2016 | Categories: Biophilia, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
The magic of the number three makes the shamrock a mystical, magical plant the symbol of a nation and its national holiday, St. Patrick's Day.
Thirty six million Americans claim at least a little bit of Irish ancestry, myself included. Over 80 million people worldwide claim an Irish family connection. No wonder St. Patrick’s Day is more popular outside Ireland: the total population of the country is just 4.8 million people. We love St. Patrick’s Day at Good Earth Plant Company, because it’s all about the green! Anything that gets people thinking green and about plants is something we support, whether we are Irish or not. The truth is that blue was the color traditionally associated with Ireland, and the color most often connected with the real St.… Read More

Catch Up With Top Reader Recommended Blog Posts

| March 9, 2016 | Categories: Blog, Green Roofs, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing, Newsletters, Sustainable Living, Water and Water Conservation
Catch up with our top blog posts so far for 2016 on topics including stormwater pollution, nature and well-being, and how to recognize and treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD). If you aren’t receiving our newsletter, sign up here on our home page. We don’t sell your information or spam you, and you can unsubscribe anytime. We don’t like spam either!