Biophilic Design
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
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
Living Walls Aren’t Built In A Day
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
Pay Attention To The Power of Plants at Work
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
Time to Celebrate: It’s National Indoor Plant Week
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
Things Are Looking Up For Plant Lovers
Indoor plants are having more than a moment. Good Earth Plant Company loves seeing so many people adding indoor plants to their home and work environments. It might be the one good thing coming from the pandemic. Since 1977, we’ve been big advocates for the power of plants to improve the quality of your surroundings, from cleaning the air to clearing your mind.
Plants are a lot like potato chips. You can’t have just one. It’s also true plants thrive when they are grouped together – and they look cool. But there’s only so much surface space to go around. You can add shelf space and place plants on your existing furniture (be careful with the watering), but at some point, you run out.… Read More
Client Happiness and Health Always Wins Big
Good Earth Plant Company got a nice surprise this week: our living wall project at 655 W. Broadway has won a Silver Award in its category in the 2021 Biophilic Design Awards. We love seeing our client projects featured, and we love seeing everyone else’s work.
Awards make us feel great, but what’s more important about them is providing an objective measurement of the quality of our projects. Are we doing the best possible work we can for our clients? Where do we rate against our (mostly friendly) competitors? What can we learn from THEIR award-winning projects?
This project has a special place in our horticultural hearts.… Read More
Good Earth Plants Comes Alive at Art Alive 2021
It finally seems like the end of a long, long 16 months. While we still need to respect the pandemic and take sensible precautions – it’s time to celebrate! We made it!
It’s perfect timing for the return of one of my favorite San Diego events and the very first public event for us since early 2020. Art Alive 2021 starts today. If you aren’t familiar with it, local and national floral designers create their own floral interpretations of artworks from the San Diego Museum of Art. There will be more than 100 floral displays of art masterpieces, and a whole weekend of flower-filled activities and events as a Museum fundraiser.… Read More
Celebrate Earth Day 2021: Fight Global Warming With Gardening
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?
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