Getting Rid Of The Fungus Gnats Among Us

| July 30, 2015 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
You're not seeing spots, you're seeing fungus gnats on your plants.
House plants bring life and freshness into our homes, transforming dull spaces into vibrant green sanctuaries. But let’s talk about a not-so-joyful aspect of plant parenthood: fungus gnats. Those pesky little insects can turn our indoor oasis into a buzzing nuisance faster than you can say, “Hey, where did all these tiny flies come from?”  Picture this: you’re peacefully admiring your thriving green friends when suddenly, you notice tiny, winged intruders darting around your beloved plants. It’s like a miniature airshow, except you didn’t buy tickets and you certainly didn’t invite these uninvited guests!  Of the six pests (spider mites, mealy bugs, thrip, scale, white fly and fungus gnats) Good Earth Plants deals with, fungus gnats are the biggest pain for plant parents in San Diego.… Read More

California’s Trees Are Worth Saving

| July 22, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living, Water and Water Conservation
San Diego is losing its Torrey Pines at an alarming rate because of the drought.
Have you noticed changes in the landscaping along San Diego’s freeways? Caltrans has cut a lot of trees down, replacing them with low profile, low water use landscaping. I bet Caltrans is doing this in other areas of California as well. Caltrans isn’t alone. KPBS Radio reported 100 trees have been removed from the Torrey Pines Preserve, which is a lot more than the yearly average. Twelve MILLION trees died in California state forests in 2014 because of the drought. Almost 90,000 of those were in San Diego County. All over the state, our urban and suburban street trees are being removed due to drought, disease, and because they’ve become street hazards raising sidewalks.… Read More

Ripping Out Your Lawn? Consider Foodscaping

| July 18, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living, Water and Water Conservation
Something as simple as a community garden can greatly increase your general happiness daily. Photo: Courtesy Karen Contreras, Urban Plantations
Homeowners in drought-stricken California have gotten serious about making changes in their water consumption. They are ripping out their water-guzzling lawns in record numbers. What they don’t always do is give a lot of thought about what will replace that lawn. So we end up seeing a lot of mulch and rocks as a quick fix. Consider a tastier alternative: Foodscaping. The simplest definition of foodscaping is landscaping with edible plants. It embraces the concept of growing food in place of lawns on private or sometime community property. It’s something in between farming, where you are growing food in a way that maximizes output, and landscaping that is meant to be decorative.… Read More

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

| July 9, 2015 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living
It's a small step in the right direction toward preserving our planet's resources.
Some days the news is a little hard to take, full of reports about shootings, natural disasters, and drought. I thought I would write about it, but then I realized the topic seemed familiar. Check out this blog post I wrote two years ago this month. Not much has changed, has it? The location of the shootings is different, that is about it. As for our weather, it only seems to get drier and hotter. My observations and my advice then wouldn’t change now either. We know what needs to be done and we have many of the solutions at our fingertips, even more than we did two years ago.… Read More

Honoring Our Founding Environmentalists On July 4

| July 2, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Architecture and Design, Environment, Gardening, Sustainable Living
If you ever visit the Washington D.C. area for the July 4 holiday, you can celebrate Independence Day at Mt. Vernon. Courtesy MountVernon.org
Happy Independence Day from General Washington from Mount Vernon on Vimeo. I recently made a trip to Washington D.C. There is so much to do and see around our nation’s capital. No matter how many times I visit, there is always a new place for me to check out. But there is one place I haven’t been to for a very long time. I joined my family to make a side trip to Mt. Vernon, the 400-acre plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The estate is right on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Alexandria, and was built in 1757.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Gives Thomas Jefferson School of Law a Natural Makeover

| June 26, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping
The fresh new planters are looking great thanks to a little TLC from Good Earth Plants Company.
One of our favorite projects ever stemmed from installing the living wall on the fifth floor of the new Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) downtown. We installed the original living wall in January 2011 and it got rave reviews. Here’s what it looked like then: Because the client was so pleased with our diligent, detail-oriented performance (and our tidiness too), we also got the contract to install all of the built in planters on the fifth and eighth floors (not quite a green roof), ground level and the interior atrium. We performed maintenance for the first year, and then due to budget constraints, the school decided to take the service and care of their plants in-house.… Read More

Getting Schooled about Plants, Nature, Biophilia and Wellness

| June 25, 2015 | Categories: Biophilia, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Nature and Wellbeing
Architects designing today’s hospitals are merging art and evidence-based research to create environments that promote health and healing. Views of nature, natural light, earth-toned color schemes and the sounds of nature all help patients heal more quickly, and they suffer less from depression or side effects. Starting with a study in 2002 by University of Texas professor Roger Ulrich which we have written about before, there are now over 1,000 studies and they all prove the same thing. Plants and nature promote healing. It’s serious science and it is finally starting to be taken seriously. This week, the San Diego Business Journal published an article about changes in the approach to architectural design of hospitals and other healthcare facilities to put these principles into practice.… Read More

Explore Workplace Wellness at San Diego Workshop July 23

| June 24, 2015 | Categories: Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Can a workplace evolve to become a place where people are healthier after a day of work than when they arrive in the morning? Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings is pleased to support “Wellbeing @ Work,” a workshop on making workspaces healthier, more ergonomically friendly, and ultimately more effective by allowing people to work at their very best. The event takes place on Thursday, July 23, from 7:30 – 11:30 a.m. at the bkm OfficeWorks Showroom and is sponsored by Steelcase, the leading manufacturer of furniture for offices, hospitals, and classrooms. Human Resources Professionals, Risk & Safety Managers, Corporate Wellness Officers, Facilities Managers, Corporate Wellness Consultants and members of the San Diego design community are all encouraged to attend.… Read More

Living Walls With An International Twist

| June 18, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Living Walls, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Our first living wall made out of preserved moss panels imported from Italy. Photo: GreenScaped Buildings
Even though we’ve been installing living walls and vertical gardens in many forms for nearly ten years, there is always something new to learn and to work with. GreenScaped Buildings installed its first ever project this month using preserved “moss” panels. These panels are imported from Italy, and there isn’t anything else like them. They are fire retardant, preserved and super easy to care for. The panels are actually made of preserved lichens. Lichens are composite organisms, which include the properties of simple algae and fungi. They are similar to mosses but don’t have stems or leaves. The lichen is collected without any damage to the vegetation or environment and is hand applied to the panel backing.… Read More

Urban Agriculture: Why Eating and Buying Local Matters to the Planet

| June 11, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
With so many farmer's markets and other local food resources in San DIego County, it's easier than ever to buy local food products.
We get asked a lot to create edible walls and green roofs that are roof top farms. I recently ran across this thought-provoking article, thought-provoking for me at least as a person who thinks a lot about our relationships to plants, nature and the Earth. This research in this article shows 90 percent of all the people in the United States could eat foods grown within 100 miles of home. The study was conducted by two engineering professors at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute run by the University of California at Merced. Read it here. Many people have talked about the need to support local food supplies for many reasons.… Read More