Good Earth Plant Company

Good Earth Plant Company is San Diego’s largest locally-owned provider of interior and exterior landscape design, plant installations and maintenance in non-traditional spaces. Our highly experienced and diverse staff has helped us achieve this leadership position.

Our horticultural experts apply everything we have learned over four decades in business about growing plants in containers to introducing plants and nature into our urban environment. We make use of non-traditional gardening space: green roofs, living walls, tower gardens, and more that we have yet to discover.

Good Earth Plant Company’s mix of clientele includes biotech, financial, hospitality, healthcare, retail, designers, specifiers, property management, technology, developers and homeowners. Our clients partner with us in everything we do.

Good Earth Plant Company is experienced in large-scale projects, technology, construction timelines, project management and creative design build. We take equal care in creating a beautiful interior wall or tabletop design for your office or home.

We use all of the resources available to create the most enriched environment for our clients. Our long list of awards speaks for our quality and innovation. But we take even more pride in the happiness of our clients with our work.

Welcome Spring at the Good Earth Plants Open House and Plant Sale

| April 17, 2014 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls
The Good Earth Plant Company green roof seven years ago and today.
The buds are bursting, hotels are filled and days are longer. It must be spring in San Diego.  It’s also time for the Good Earth Plants crew to sweep up and dust off our warehouse and demo garden so we can show off some exciting new projects at our Open House and Plant Sale on Friday, April 25 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Opening the doors to guests is a great way for us to see our operation with fresh eyes. Our talented staff coaxes new growth to show off our living wall displays and our now seven-year-old green roof, one of the first in San Diego.… Read More

Plants In The Workplace Show Major Benefits

| March 27, 2014 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Scientific studies prove it: Plants in our working environment improve our mental and physical health.
What once began as an interesting topic for plant people to chew on has taken root in serious science. There is proof working in an environment with plants provides multiple benefits. At last we can measure what I have experienced for years: Plants make good sense in many ways. We can link working in plant filled environments to cleaner air, better health and increased productivity. Let’s look at each of these benefits in more detail. Cleaner Air: When plants transpire water vapor from their leaves, they pull air down around their roots. This supplies their root microbes with oxygen. The root microbes also convert other substances in the air (such as toxic chemicals) into a source of food and energy.… Read More

See Jim Mumford and Good Earth Plant Company tonight on KPBS-TV

| February 6, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
Jim Mumford and Nan Sterman, KPBS TV
See Jim Mumford of Good Earth Plants on “A Growing Passion” tonight on KPBS  Thursday, February 6, 8:30 p.m. KPBS Channel 15 Cox Cable 1011 HD Time Warner Cable 711 HD Green roofs were once a novelty.  No more! Today, they are gaining popularity thanks to their ability to capture runoff and keep it from polluting beaches and bays, to moderate temperatures inside the buildings they top, reduce atmospheric heating, and offer a beautiful, interesting, even healing alternative to an expanse of glaring, bare rooftop. Nan Sterman, host of “A Growing Passion” on KPBS-TV, visits green roofs large and small across San Diego County including a few of Jim Mumford’s favorites created by Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings for our clients.… Read More

Jim Mumford’s 2013 Green Christmas Wishes from Good Earth Plants

| December 23, 2013 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Newsletters
While most people are gathering around the Christmas tree and wrapping their final gifts, the Good Earth Plants team is busy putting a bow on the 2013 Christmas season. We still have a solid week’s worth of work to do delivering last-minute orders, checking on big décor projects and making sure the tree at Horton Plaza is holding up after the mix of weather we have had. Whew! While it’s not yet over for us, I wanted to stop for a moment and send along my thoughts on the season to all of you who kindly read my musings throughout the year.… Read More

An Attitude of Gratitude: Happy Thanksgiving from Good Earth Plants

| November 25, 2013 | Categories: Awards & Achievements, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants
While the world is wrapped up in turkey, football games and pumpkin pie, the Good Earth Plants team is knee-deep in holiday décor. The warehouse is bright and shiny with trees, wreaths and garlands being readied for installation at our clients’ offices and homes. Holiday cards are being signed and addressed for mailing. Before we immerse ourselves in glitter and snowflakes, I wanted to jot down some thoughts about the people that make me so grateful this season. When I was just starting Good Earth Plants, some special people took time to help me. Mark Sandstrom, who recently passed away, gave me a big break into the flower business.… Read More

Boston Strong and Green at American Society of Landscape Architects meeting

| November 15, 2013 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Living Walls
Jim Mumford at ASLA meeting
I am in Boston representing Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings at one of my favorite events, the annual American Society of Landscape Architects Conference. Such a great group of people: friends, colleagues and some of the smartest landscape professionals you will ever meet. Friday I presented a talk on “Obstacles and Pitfalls to Successful Living Wall Maintenance,” and while it sounds like a mouthful, it brings up important issues. To design, install and maintain a living wall isn’t inexpensive. No one wants to get a living wall up and ready to grow only to see it wither under a poor maintenance program.… Read More

Bioinspiration: Letting Nature Inspire Your Work

| November 12, 2013 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living
This week wasn’t about the usual business of green roofs and living walls. I jumped outside the box, exited my silo and spent time at events that remind me of what else is out there. I attended a Downtown San Diego Partnership workshop featuring Fred Kent of Project for Public Spaces. I first heard Fred speak at the Greening the City symposium in March 2006 at Liberty Station. It was there that I was exposed to the idea of green roofs. My passion was ignited. I went on to take a course in New York and studied Fred’s concepts about energizing, engaging and programming public places to build communities.… Read More

Plants in Space: Growing Without Gravity

| November 7, 2013 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing
There is a great new movie out called “Gravity” which tells the frightening tale of a scientist and an astronaut (played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) aboard the International Space Station when something goes terribly wrong. A great story….but they forgot to include a garden on the International Space Station! In an ABC news article (Sept 2013) NASA will reportedly be sending lettuce plants into space. In a project dubbed “Veggie,” a form of red lettuce will be grown, frozen then sent back to earth. NASA project scientists will be checking to see what types of micro-organisms are on the leaves to see if the lettuce will be safe to eat in orbit.… Read More

Bringing the Outdoors In

| October 10, 2013 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
After a long week of reviewing designs for living walls and finalizing contracts for green roofs, I often toss some work in my leather bag and head home to finish up in my “sanctuary,” AKA my living room. With a panoramic view of a lush canyon complete with mature trees, California scrub and a pseudo meadow,  my second story living room is at treetop level. The view is spectacular: gracefully aging eucalyptus and ash trees surrounded by palms and an old and twisted Hollywood juniper. It is in my big chair, in my living room that I am able to take a deep breath and exhale the day.… Read More

Just a Crack in the Sidewalk

| October 1, 2013 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
When I get busy, it’s easy for me to become focused on the minute particles that make up my life. The garden needs watering. The car needs to go in for service. I’ve got to mail that insurance payment. Most importantly, I must fix my darned office chair so that it swivels properly! You laugh, but I will bet you have a similar list somewhere. An endless stream of small details that need to be completed before the end of the week. Like little flies buzzing around your mind that demands your attention in order to find some quiet. All the while, Nature just rolls along.… Read More