Plantscaping
After all the New Year celebrations are over, I still have something to look forward to every year: the annual Tropical Plant Industry Expo in Florida. It’s become a tradition for me to start the year meeting with my Plantscaping industry colleagues from 45 states and 37 different countries, and learning about the latest trends and products I can offer to our clients at Good Earth Plant Company.
When you have been in business almost 40 years like we have, you see certain concepts and ideas recycled from time to time. Sometimes we get a new twist on those old ideas.… Read More
Pest-Resistant Indoor Plants That Keep Bugs Away
Good Earth Plant’s Top 12 Pest-Resistant House Plants
Many people love the idea of greening their indoor spaces but worry about pests. Thankfully, there are numerous pest-resistant house plants that are perfect for those without a green thumb. Even if you are a beginner, you can make it a lot easier on yourself if you choose plants that are proven to be easier to care for than others. But we’re standing by to help: it’s our mission at Good Earth Plant company to enrich people’s lives with plants. Give us a call to learn more about how we can assist you in selecting the perfect pest-resistant houseplants for your space! … Read More
Good Earth Plant Company’s Top Ten Workplace Design Trends to Watch for 2017
With just a few days left of 2016, Good Earth Plants has its attention focused on what’s to come for 2017. Here are our top ten predictions on workplace design trends for the next 12 months.
Moss Wall Art: Preserved moss walls took our industry by storm in 2016, and there is no sign of it letting up. Look for even more creativity and innovation in these projects. We are incorporating new and different types of mosses and integrating additional materials including elements like driftwood, pods, shells and glass. There is no limit to the possibilities. We are even exploring living moss walls into very limited projects.… Read More
Growing A Business, 39 Years and Counting
Thirty-nine years ago today, all I wanted was a way to support myself. I was almost 20 and my dad had just kicked me out of the house because I didn’t get a job over the summer.
I got a part-time job while going to community college, working at an outdoor “plant stand” in the financial district of downtown San Diego. It turned into my own full-time business. Shortly after starting my gig working for “Plants on the Plaza,” the three owners decided it was too much hassle to make them any real money and they wanted to sell. Back home and at dinner that night, my Naval Captain father said, “Let’s buy it!”… Read More
Don’t Kill Your Plants With Kindness
We love our endless summer in San Diego, but it’s a nice change to finally feel the first hints of fall’s cooler temperatures. The time change back to standard time isn’t too far off either.
Even San Diegans start spending a lot more time indoors at this time of year. It motivates me to communicate with our clients and you my blog readers about the importance of maintaining a healthy indoor environment when we start spending more time living and working indoors.
You can imagine my reaction when I read this week in the Wall Street Journal about a new study claiming indoor plants could actually be BAD for your health.… Read More
Helping Homeless San Diegans One Plant At A Time
Several months ago at a Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 (C3) panel discussion on the homelessness problem in San Diego, one of the panel members really energized me.
Her name is Amy Gonyeau, and she is Chief Operating Officer with the Alpha Project. For those who aren’t familiar with it (like me I’m embarrassed to say), Alpha Project is a nonprofit human services organization that serves over 4,000 homeless men, women, and children each day with a variety of services like affordable housing, residential substance abuse treatment, transportation, mental health counseling, employment training, and also emergency services.
I started my career in the plant industry with a flower kiosk on the corner of 6th and B streets in downtown San Diego.… Read More
Go Green When You Remodel Your Home
Plenty of people put off home improvement and remodeling projects over the last few years due to America’s Great Recession.
Get ready for a new look in a lot of homes – maybe even your own. Several major industry studies predict a big jump in remodeling activity.
The Joint Center for Housing Students of Harvard University projects a trend for home improvement and repair expenses to reach eight percent by 2017, nearly double the historic average, based on its own model it calls the “Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity” or LIRA. And who are we to argue with Harvard? The website HomeAdvisor and the National Association of Home Builders reports also agree with the Harvard outlook.… Read More
Amazon Goes Big With New HQ Biosphere in Seattle
Outrageous workplace perks in the tech industry have reached epic proportions. Google has the reputation of offering the most extreme benefits.
Google better enjoy its status while it can. The new Amazon headquarters in downtown Seattle is going to blow Google’s free laundry services and the Facebook snack bar away.
Amazon is building three massive “biosphere” type greenhouses as part of its new $4 billion headquarters in the hip Denny Regrade. These three connected greenhouses will house 65,000 square feet of tropical plants, with 3,000 different species. Compare this to the San Diego Botanical Garden in Balboa Park. It houses 2,100 species of plants in just under 20,000 square feet of space.… Read More
Plants’ Secret Language: Can They Communicate?
When I first got started working with plants professionally in the late 1970s, talking to your plants to make them grow better was a hot topic. Even Prince Charles said in a 1986 interview that he talked to his plants. “I just come and talk to the plants, really. Very important to talk to them; they respond.”
Some people thought it was pretty hippie dippy, but others took it seriously including a lot of scientists, long before the 1970s fad. German researcher Gustav Fechner wrote a book about it in 1848. Electrical signals in plants were discovered over 100 years ago, in 1873, by British scientist John Burdon-Sanderson.… Read More
Cool Moss Walls: The Hottest Trend in Green Living
We make the rounds of all top events in the green building industry checking on the latest products and trends. I just returned from Longwood Gardens. The hot topic was hotter than San Diego’s last heat wave: moss walls. As Bernie Sanders might say, moss walls were YUUUUGE! It’s been a long time since everyone was this excited about a single product.
The reasons are simple. Moss walls provide all the benefits of traditional living walls and several more. They can thrive in nearly any indoor setting. Growing conditions can be far from perfect – but they don’t need any light, water or maintenance.… Read More