biophilia

Fig Tree Café Gets A Plant-Filled Makeover

| August 9, 2022 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Good Earth Plant Company enjoyed giving the original Fig Tree Cafe in Pacific Beach a well deserved refresh. Photo: Jim Mumford Good Earth Plant Company
We love working with new clients at Good Earth Plant Company. When Rise & Shine Hospitality Group Chief Operating Officer Cesar Garcia needed to remodel the original Pacific Beach location of Fig Tree Café, he started the same place most of us do: Google. Good Earth Plant Company is so glad he did! If you aren’t familiar with Fig Tree Café, it opened its first location in Pacific Beach in 2008 with a simple mission rooted in the creation of an inviting and genuine dining experience. Since then, CEO and founder Johan Engman opened in Liberty Station in 2013, and recently in East Village.… Read More

Top Trends at Cultivate 22: Color and Creativity

| July 20, 2022 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
This three dimentional "grotto wall" using moss and living plants was my favorite display at Cultivate 22. I can't wait to build one myself! Photo: Jim Mumford
We’ve just wrapped up one of my favorite workplace greenery and horticulture conferences – the annual Cultivate 22 held in Columbus, Ohio, by American Hort, our national organization supporting and promoting the horticulture industry. We were back last year post-pandemic, but we were all still feeling the many effects of what we’d all gone through. This year, the energy, collaboration, and creativity were truly back. I could tell immediately from the bright-colored plant and floral displays in downtown Columbus. They were missing last year. More than 650 exhibitors and 10,000 industry professionals like me attend this show to see all the latest products and plants and talk with colleagues to share and learn about the latest trends and solutions for our clients.… Read More

Go Green To Recruit Tech Talent

| June 22, 2022 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Our first moss wall project in 2022 for one of the GAMAM companies. Photo: Good Earth Plant Company sustainability must
Before the pandemic, technology employees loved their free meals, foosball, and office happy hour. Post-pandemic, it’s going to take more than booze to bring tech workers back into the office. Good Earth Plant Company has a hot tip for tech employers: Go green at work. Many of the big tech companies including the Big Five known as GAMAM (Google, Apple, Meta [Facebook], Amazon, and Microsoft) or FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) announced they would bring back their workers into the office. Their employees said, “Umm, not so fast.” Recent surveys found nearly three-quarters of tech employees plan to quit their jobs this year in part because of lack of flexibility with the post-pandemic return to the office push and toxic workplace culture.… Read More

Even Black Thumbs Can Grow Orchids

| May 18, 2022 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Yes, you can grow orchids! Good Earth Plant Company tells you our secrets to grow orchids. Photo: Pixabayv
During the pandemic, many people learned about the benefits of adding plants to your indoor environment at home and work. This isn’t a news flash for our regular readers. Study after study confirms plants help clean your indoor air of toxins, raise the humidity to healthier levels, contribute to an increase in oxygen levels, buffer noise, calm your nerves and help you focus. We’ll stop there. Good Earth Plant Company works with many clients who like fresh cut flowers in addition to green indoor plants in their workspaces. Who isn’t impressed by a gorgeous display of flowers in a lobby or meeting room?… Read More

New Thoughts for 2022 About The Nature of the Post-Pandemic Workplace

| March 23, 2022 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Awards & Achievements, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing
Where would YOU rathr work? Our Second Edition white paper is optimistic about the future of the American office. Download your copy free! Post-pandemic workplace
The modern American office is now competing with the work from home (WFH) environment. Employees are voting with their feet for more flexibility in their lives. The days of the open office and cubicle farms are over. How should the workplace evolve? It was time for my colleagues and me with Silverado Roundtable to dig deep to offer human resources professionals, facilities managers, and the design community some tools to address the post-pandemic reality. We present The Nature of the Post-Pandemic Workplace – Second Edition. I never thought I’d write ONE white paper. Now I’ve written two! How did we get here?… Read More

Nightmare Before Christmas: Christmas Trees In Short Supply

| December 8, 2021 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Our Christmas tree created for our client Illumina.
Many families usually make plans to put up their Christmas tree this time of year. But when’s the last time anything seemed normal? Like so many other goods right now, the supply chain problems slowing down the delivery of so many products affect Christmas trees. Whether you prefer a real Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree, it’s more complicated and more expensive in 2021. For California residents – and most people in Western states – the supply chain issues combine with inventory destroyed by western wildfires in tree-growing states like Oregon. Rising temperatures also create problems for tree farmers. The result: tree costs are up about five to ten percent.… Read More

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

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