Your Top Questions About Biophilic Design Answered

| November 17, 2021 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants
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The coronavirus pandemic made us more aware of creating healthier indoor spaces, especially in the workplace. Employers are starting to pay attention. “The Great Resignation” has fired up their interest in making workplaces safe and inviting. I’ve read the words “biophilia” and “biophilic design” in the news and on websites more than ever before in the last 18 months. It’s mentioned in articles like this one, and this one, and even this one. Good Earth Plant Company does its part by enriching peoples’ lives with plants and using our award-winning blog to inform our readers about the principles of biophilia and biophilic design.… Read More

Take A Virtual Tour of the Good Earth Plant Company’s New Biophilic Warehouse

| November 3, 2021 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company
Take a virtual tour of our brand new biophilic warehouse at Good Earth Plant Company.
After more than four decades, Good Earth Plant Company has a brand new 2,000 square foot working warehouse and workshop facility. It’s been on our wish list since we moved to our Kearny Mesa property in 1994. When I bought the property 18 years ago, there was a large, three-sided mechanic’s shed. It was torn down in 2007. Since that time, we used the old concrete floor as a large patio and created a “living lab” with examples of living walls. This is where the new warehouse sits.  We relocated our living walls and they continue to thrive. We’ll give you a tour in a future blog post.… Read More

Dangerous Plants: A Little Shop of Horrors

| October 27, 2021 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
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

| October 21, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Living Walls
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

| October 14, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
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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

| October 6, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
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

Ho Ho Ho – The Holidays Are Already Here at Good Earth Plant Company

| September 22, 2021 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Whinnery Design decorated the lobby for our clients at 655 West Broadway in 2020 - see our living wall in the back! Photo: Courtesy Whinnery Design holidays are here
One week ago today, a record 89 cargo ships were anchored or floating off the coast full of goods waiting to be unloaded at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the Marine Exchange Vessel Traffic Service. Even when they are off the ships, loaded cargo containers are piled up, waiting for a ride by truck or train to their final destination. If you’ve tried to buy furniture, cars, bicycle parts, and now plant pots and containers, the wait can be weeks or months. So you better start thinking about the holidays. Yes, they are right around the corner!… Read More

Time to Celebrate: It’s National Indoor Plant Week

| September 10, 2021 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
She's got the right attitude for National Indoor Plant Week 2021! Photo: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels
Plant lovers everywhere, get ready to party – the week of  September 20, 2021, is National Indoor Plant Week. We’re giving you advanced notice! It is celebrated the third full week of September every year. I get it, there are a whole lot of these observations. One website claims there are 1,500 of them – that’s a LOT for 365 days and 52 weeks. During the same week, it’s also National Singles Week, National Farm Animals Week, and National Eczema Week. Your indoor plants deserve a celebration. All they want to do is grow and keep you happier and healthier. They don’t judge you and they don’t have to worry about social distancing either (how lucky!).… Read More

Nine Best Tips to Make the Most of Labor Day Weekend 2021

| September 1, 2021 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
It isn't a coincidence many of our favorite memories involve being outside in Nature, like my 2019 trip to Austria. Get outside Labor Day Weekend! Photo: Jim Mumford
Labor Day 2021 is already here! Yes, Labor Day is recognized this Monday, September 6, 2021. Made any plans? The pandemic might be changing your traditional long weekend getaway. Why not take advantage of the situation to invest time in some late summer gardening which will pay off all through the fall month. Your yard will look great and you will get a healthy dose of Vitamin N – as in Nature. If you enlist your family, especially the kids, they’ll benefit from activities not involving screen time. Good Earth Plant Company’s nine best tips for Labor Day Weekend 2021: Start a compost pile to create some organic fertilizer for next spring’s garden.… Read More

Misting Indoor Plants: The Whole Truth

| August 25, 2021 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping, Water and Water Conservation
  Do you need to mist your indoor plants to keep them healthy? No, you don’t. If I stopped there, this would be the shortest blog post in Good Earth Plant Company history! But I wouldn’t do that to my loyal readers. Let’s discuss misting in a little more detail. We get asked about this frequently, especially during hot summer days. Plants and people like the same indoor  humidity Indoor plants prefer a humidity level between 40 and 60 percent. Most common types of indoor plants are native to parts of the world where there is a lot of rain and humidity.… Read More