World Naked Gardening Day 2021 is Here!

| April 28, 2021 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Nature and Wellbeing
Grab your tools and get outside for World Naked Gardening Day 2021 this Saturday, May 1. Photo: Jim Mumford
Thank you, Mother Nature. Summer temperatures are ahead for Southern California this weekend, just in time for one of our favorite days all year. Yes, Saturday is the 17th annual World Naked Gardening Day! More good timing: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidance this week on COVID-19 mask guidelines. Fully vaccinated people don’t need to wear a mask outdoors. At home, you don’t need a mask outside, of course. Great news for the 30% of us who are fully vaccinated. When we first found out about WNGD several years ago at Good Earth Plant Company, we got a big laugh out of it.… Read More

Celebrate Earth Day 2021: Fight Global Warming With Gardening 

| April 21, 2021 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Environment, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Today is Earth Day 2021: the 51st year for Earth Day. It was founded on April 22, 1970, by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin. He was inspired by student protests against the Vietnam War and hoped to inspire a similar outcry against our war on the environment. It might not be an official national holiday, but it’s an important day to all the Eco-Warriors at Good Earth Plant Company and important for us to call it to every reader’s attention. It’s easy to get discouraged about climate change and global warming and easy to feel powerless about stopping it. But it’s possible if we all add a little effort, which will add up to a lot if we don’t give up.… Read More

The Price of Nature: What Is A Green View Worth?

| April 15, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing
Right up there with the San Diego Padres, the biggest talk in town this spring is the real estate market. Prices have always been at a premium due to San Diego’s location and weather. But now, they seem completely out of control. Real estate is one of the few things you can buy that doesn’t drop in value. One of the most important things you can do to increase the value is landscaping. It’s among the few home improvements you can make with a nearly immediate return on investment – and it only gets better as your landscaping matures. Think about the bathroom or kitchen you remodeled 10 or 15 years ago.… Read More

Plants Matter: Our Ten Reasons Why

| April 7, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
From avocados to zucchini, plants are the basis for all foods humans consume. Photo: Any Lane/Pexels Plants Matter
Food Are you reading this over a meal or snack? Without plants, forget having anything to eat. Every single one of the calories in proteins, fats, and carbohydrates we consume comes from plants. Yes, this includes meat, because animals we consume as food eat plants. Plants use the energy created from photosynthesis to convert carbon-dioxide to complex molecules animals including people eat for food. It hardly gets more basic than this! But we have nine more reasons to go. Oxygen Hold your breath. You probably can’t do it for more than a few minutes. Life on Earth depends on oxygen, and that oxygen comes mostly from plants, which generate oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis.… Read More

Our Favorite Holiday Is Here! Celebrate Biophilia on St. Patrick’s Day with Good Earth Plant Company

| March 16, 2021 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Gardening, Nature and Wellbeing
Our friend Stumpy, who lives in Jim Mumford's yard, is excited to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Photo: Jim Mumford
Most people say their favorite holiday is Christmas. Thanksgiving comes next, but Halloween has nearly caught up. Our favorite holiday didn’t even make the list! We’re here to celebrate OUR favorite holiday at Good Earth Plant Company. You don’t have to be Irish (or part Irish like me) to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. Think St. Patrick’s Day is all about cheers, beers, and parties? Think again! St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Nature. It’s the original Biophilic Holiday. We’ll explain. St. Patrick’s Day History  You may have Irish heritage like me, as many Americans do. Ireland has a long history of emigration.… Read More

Green Roofs Growing Strong!

| March 3, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Sustainable Living, Water and Water Conservation
My original green roof at Good Earth Plant Company in Kearny Mesa, still growing strong after 15 years.
It was 14 years ago this month when the first commercial green roof appeared on an occupied building in the City of San Diego. It was OUR main office at Good Earth Plant Company. You never forget your first! It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years since we took this leap of faith, although it was made so much easier with all of the expert advice we followed and with the work of the partners who helped make it happen. So a few quick thank yous right at the start go to Ulf Waldman, Robert Thiele, Charlie Miller, Robin Rivet, and Paul Kephart.… Read More

Bring The Office Back to Life With Plants

| February 24, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Can it really be nearly a year since our world turned upside down because of a little spiky-looking virus? No one knew we’d still be trying to figure out how our future will look at the end of February 2021. We’re grateful at Good Earth Plant Company to be thriving and helping our clients to embrace the healthy approach to the way we work and live with biophilic design. Long before the coronavirus pandemic back in 1977 when I opened my first flower stand in downtown San Diego, it’s been my passion to enrich peoples’ lives by adding nature using plants.… Read More

#GreenWallDay is Every Day at GEP

| February 17, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Living Walls, Moss Walls
The wall that started us down a new road at Pizzeria Mozza Hollywood in 2010. You never forget your first! #GreenWallDay
While you were recovering from Valentine’s  Day (or apologizing) and enjoying President’s Day on Monday, I bet you missed the first-ever International #GreenWallDay. We’re here to get you caught up on all things green walls – or as we more commonly call them in the United States, living walls. Green Wall Day is the idea of the Green Roofs organization in the United Kingdom, and #GreenWallDay was founded by Pritchard & Pritchard, with the support of industry leaders, including ANS Global, Biotecture, Mobilane, Scotscape and Terapia Urbana. You can add Good Earth Plant Company to the list. The event honors the inventor of the modern living wall.… Read More

Heart Shaped Plants for Valentine’s Day

| February 10, 2021 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
At Good Earth Plant Company, we love flowers any time of year. But TBH, we love them even more if they aren’t cut flowers. Flowers are renewable at least, but they don’t last. It’s also true I’m still a little traumatized 40 years later after the early years when Good Earth Plants & Flowers went a little crazy this week. And with only two helpers, we did over three months’ business in two days. Instead, lean into the pandemic craze for indoor plants and support your favorite local nursery by purchasing a heart-shaped plant. You know it will fit, it’s perfect at any age, it suits everyone’s diet, and your recipient is guaranteed to love it.… Read More

Planting Seeds During Black History Month

| February 3, 2021 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Architecture and Design, Awards & Achievements, Environment, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Mother Nature is diverse, inclusive, and accessible. It’s only when human beings get involved that we put up barriers due to systemic racism. It’s important to us at Good Earth Plant Company to use our platform to celebrate the contributions of Black Americans to horticulture and gardening during Black History Month 2021. Here are some of our favorite resources for you to explore this topic with us, and we know you’ll be inspired as much as we are. Black agriculture pioneers: Most people know the name George Washington Carver. Dr. Carver was an agricultural scientist at Tuskegee University in Alabama. By the time of his death in 1943 he was the single most important Black scientist of the 20th Century.… Read More