Good Earth Plant Company

Challenge Plus Creativity = One Beautiful Birthday Present, A Living Wall

| July 15, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Living Walls
Sometimes square pegs fit in round holes: a living wall on a curved surface.
Nobody loves a challenge more than GreenScaped Buildings. A potential client who had seen the stunning installation at Spring Hill Suites in Oceanside tracked us down at the end of May, and called us in to look at his proposed project. He wanted to surprise his wife for her birthday and give her a 112 square foot living wall at the front entry of their house. How’s that for a unique and spectacular present? We loved the idea. He was set on the style of the wall being succulents in a tight pattern. Here is what the original wall looks like as a reminder: This raised two huge challenges: 1) How to overcome his three week lead time: First, the manufacturer’s lead time to get us the wall materials is four weeks.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Hosts ASLA Living Architecture Mixer on Thursday, July 17

| July 14, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Living Walls
Join us on July 17 for the ALSA mixer at Good Earth Plant Company.
Are you a landscape designer or architect? Are you an interior designer or a space planner? Do things like sustainability, energy reduction and storm water retention excite you? Would you like to learn how living walls and green roofs can benefit your work? Then Thursday, July 17 is your lucky day! Good Earth Plant Company and our sister company Greenscaped Buildings will host an open house and mixer for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) on Thursday, July 17, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Good Earth Plants has specialized in containerized “plantscapes” (anything in a pot or planter) with award winning service and design since 1977.… Read More

You Don’t Need 4th of July Fireworks to Show Patriotism

| July 3, 2014 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company
In April 2010, San Diego Magazine named me one of four regional “Eco-Warriors.” Since then we’ve affectionately adopted the name on our business cards and uniforms. We are all “Eco-Warriors” at Good Earth Plants and our sister company GreenScaped Buildings. My son Ted Photoshopped my head onto Superman’s body complete with a flowing green cape, shorts and boots, giving us an endearing image of what an Eco-Warrior might look like. San Diego attorney and Coast Law Groups Managing Partner Marco Gonzalez was also named an “Eco-Warrior.” He is also the former attorney for the well-regarding environmental organization San Diego Coastkeeper. Marco is one of a small handful of activist attorneys taking on high-profile and publicly controversial matters inappropriately sited desalination facilities, statewide septic system regulation, and irresponsible highway widening projects.… Read More

The Top Ten Plants for Cleaning Your Air

| June 30, 2014 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
The sturdy Golden Pothos makes our Top Ten list. Photo: Elvis Ripley, Flickr
If you read our blog regularly (and we hope you are!), you know Good Earth Plants is always looking for new ways plants can benefit you. One of the most important ways is to keep the air in your interior environment at work and home cleaner. Plants work their magic in part by absorbing toxins into their leaves. When plants scrub these toxins out of the air by processing them through photosynthesis, you don’t process them by breathing them into your lungs. There isn’t another indoor environment with more concern about keeping its air clean than a space ship, space shuttle, or space station.… Read More

Good Earth Plants has the Prescription for Sick Building Syndrome

| June 12, 2014 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
It's not rocket science, really: humble plants like this Pothos can improve worker productivity. Photo: Julien Gong Min
Many of us know what it’s like to work in an office in a city like San Diego. According to a study by global architecture firm HOK as reported in The Guardian newspaper, people in cities spend 90 percent of their time in artificial environments. A newly defined phenomenon in these work environments is referred to as Sick Building Syndrome.  The National Safety Council describes Sick Building Syndrome as a situation where individuals experience acute health effects linked to being inside a building. These symptoms include headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; difficulty in concentrating; fatigue; and sensitivity to odors.… Read More

Living Architecture: Beyond the Eye

| June 5, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
GreenScaped Buildings designed and installed this living wall for The Irvine Company, an excellent example of "Nature In The Space."
There are so many benefits of living walls and green roofs, but you don’t have to take our word for it. The Summer 2014 issue of Living Architecture Monitor magazine features businesses which have recently installed living architecture discussing the improvements in the health and well-being of employees, as well as a positive side effect: increased property values. GreenScaped Buildings client Irvine Company Office Properties is included in the article, “How Green Roofs & Walls Have Impacted Building Occupants’ Well-Being,” Irvine Company manager Sherry Mashadian explains, “The living wall is definitely one of the greater features to the building and added value to the project.… Read More

Vertical Forests: Green New Heights

| May 21, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Living Walls
The "Bosco Verticale" or vertical forest built by Boeri Studio in Milan, Italy.
  Italian architect Stefano Boeri came up with the concept of “Bosco Verticale,” or Vertical Forest, as a way to combine high-density residential development with tree planting in urban settings. Now his first project in Milan, Italy is nearly finished. It’s a twin tower apartment complex. I’ve been tracking this project for a couple of years now. What a project! Over 700 tress, 11,000 groundcover plants and 5,000 shrubs. I sure would like to get the maintenance contact on this baby. Can you image how beautiful the view is while framed by plants? Take a look for yourself here and I’m sure you will agree.… Read More

News from Good Earth Plant Company: May 2014 Newsletter

| May 21, 2014 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Newsletters, Plantscaping
SpringHill Suites Living Wall
Click here to read the May 2014 edition of the Good Earth Plant Company Leaflet newsletter. Highlights this issue include: Read about our latest activities in the President’s Letter Learn about our featured projects, the new living walls at the Marriott SpringHill Suites in Oceanside and at Qualcomm See photos from our Spring Open House Who couldn’t use a little Horticultural Humor? Get our newsletter delivered right to your inbox by signing up for our newsletter email list. Visit the home page of our website and scroll to the end of the page to provide us your email address.        

Changed by Fire: Thriving After Disaster

| May 16, 2014 | Categories: Awards & Achievements, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Scenes from the Cocos fire. Courtesy NBC 7
Introduction: This blog post is not the normal bits of advice or inspiration about green building, plantscaping, or living walls. After the events of this week in San Diego and an unusually early start to what appears to be a long, hot summer and wildfire season to come, I couldn’t help but think about my own experiences surviving – and even thriving – after a wildfire. I wrote a lengthy journal entry about my experiences with a wildfire in 2003, when my own home was burned to the ground in the Cedar Fire. While many things were destroyed – including my marriage – new life literally did grow from the ashes, taking me in a direction I never could have imagined.… Read More

Cleaning the Polluted Air: Easy as Planting a Tree

| May 15, 2014 | Categories: Environment, Gardening, Sustainable Living
If we don't address our pollution issues and clean our air NOW, we could all end up living under a dome.
Life provides too many distractions: phone calls, emails and everything on Facebook. When time allows my thoughts to wander beyond my little world, many times it rests upon how we can improve the environment or at the least, reduces our negative impact on it. Almost always, plants find their way into my ideas for helping the situation in one way or another. The recent wildfires in San Diego County brought clouds of black smoke, ash and the loss of primarily native vegetation in undeveloped areas. Our first responders are working hard to contain the danger, but not without the loss of trees and habitat.… Read More