indoor plants

Do These Six Things to Keep Indoor Plants Healthy During Winter

Even indoor plants feel the change of seasons. Photo: Skitterphoto - Creative Commons License
Winter has hit San Diego along with the rest of the U.S. No polar vortex here, thank goodness, but we know it’s winter without needed snow on the ground or freezing daytime temperatures. We feel the change of seasons even if we don’t have to shovel driveways or scrape windshields. Plants feel the change of seasons, too – even your indoor plants. Your container plants at home and in the office grow in the spring and summer and go dormant in the winter just like their outdoor cousins. During these cooler months, conditions change inside where your indoor plants live. Less sun comes through your windows.… Read More

How Long Do Plants Live?

I’ve read several times recently that Millennials are filling up their lives with plants as substitutes for traditional pets like dogs and cats, and even kids! It’s true that plant sales have increased since 2016. This is great news for us at Good Earth Plant Company. We’re working every day to enrich people’s lives with plants. This caused me to think about house plants as pets. We love our dogs, our cats, our birds, and other pets, and it hurts when we lose them to old age. It comes so fast. What about plants? Do house plants have a predetermined, predictable lifespan?… Read More

Summer Indoor Plant Care Tips to Beat The Heat

Don't let your indoor plants get sunburned by strong sunlight through windows in the summer. Move them to a protected spot. Photo: Yanoch Kandreeva/Creative Commons License
We love summer, but sometimes the summer heat can be a little overwhelming. It’s the same for your indoor plants. Even when they are in an air-conditioned office or home, your indoor plants can suffer from the negative effects of summer heat. Don’t let your plants sweat it out this summer. Check out our summer indoor plant care tips. Protect your indoor plants from strong summer rays You put on sunscreen to keep the sun’s strong summer rays from causing sunburn. You need to protect your plants from sunburn, too. No, they aren’t going to the beach, but they can get extra doses of hot summer sunlight through south and west facing windows.… Read More

Go Marimo For An Unusual indoor Plant

We sing the praises of indoor plants on a regular basis, because there’s so much to love and so many benefits. But it’s true not all indoor plants are suitable for every environment. You may have an especially challenging environment with low light, variations in temperature, even limits to where you can put them. Or maybe you admit you aren’t the most diligent about even the simplest plant care. Sometimes the problem is the limitations to the indoor plants available for your conditions. There are a few bulletproof plants so common, I understand if you’re a little bored by them. Well, no more excuses.… Read More

Our Solution for the Indoor Generation

When a video or article catches my attention, I like to share it with followers on our Good Earth Plant Company social media pages. When it catches YOUR attention, then I know the message has meaning and impact beyond my little universe. A video I posted earlier this week got more attention than anything we’ve posted for a long time. We aren’t alone. In just 10 days, this video has gotten over eight million views – and that number is going up every day. In case you aren’t one of those eight million, here it is. This video hit me like a runaway truck of truth.… Read More

Ten Unusual Indoor Plants for Your Office Desk

Office plant designs
You’ve read here many times about the benefits of having plants in your workplace environment. They absorb impurities and toxins in the air, they help dampen noise down in open floor plans, and they improve your mood, creativity, and productivity. Really, there is no down side. You may have noticed the same type of indoor plant on everyone’s desk in every office. The reason you see certain plants all the time makes sense. These plants tolerate the less than perfect growing conditions in many indoor spaces. They will absorb some abuse, and still look beautiful. This is why Good Earth Plant Company uses and recommends hardy flowering orchids, colorful bromeliads, pretty variegated pothos, tough sansevierias and the workhorse dracaena family.… Read More

Easter Comes Early for Good Earth Plant Company and Alpha Square

Jim Mumford and daughter Allie Mumford survey the bromeliads and orchids at the Alpha Square Apartments about to find new homes for Easter.
Easter came a little earlier than expected for Good Earth Plant Company, and for residents of the Alpha Square Apartment complex. Eco-Warrior Jim Mumford and daughter Allie Mumford delivered orchids and bromeliads to residents to brighten their homes. They were enthusiastically received with many smiles. Good Earth Plant Company also provided orchids to the San Diego Blood Bank as a donor premium. We received wonderful responses. If an orchid or bromeliad can convince someone to donate the gift of life, we are all for it. You can contact the San Diego Blood Bank to learn whether you are eligible to donate (most healthy adults are!)… Read More

Working A Little Plantscaping Magic In Arizona

Can you tell if these plants are real or replica?
Sometimes the best solution for one of our clients is a blend of multiple approaches in a customized design. Good Earth Plant Company recently worked with a San Diego dispensary client with locations in multiple states. For its Tempe, Arizona location, “Tend Tempe,” we needed to find ways to incorporate plants into their facility where the conditions weren’t optimal. Working with Basille Studios on the details, we decided a blend of real and replica (or “faux”) plants would work best. An “illusion” was created with our materials. Where there was enough light and/or enough access to provide ongoing maintenance, we used living plants.… Read More

San Diegans Prove Biophilia Is For Real

If there is one thing people know San Diego for, it’s our nice weather. Actually, people think we have perfect weather. Every time they see San Diego on television during an event like Comic-Con, or professional golf tournaments at Torrey Pines, it’s 75 degrees and clear with minimal humidity. If you travel like I do to conferences in other parts of the United States and mention you’re from San Diego, the first thing you hear is a sigh, and then some version of “I’d love to live in San Diego” or “I’d love to visit San Diego.” Or maybe, “I loved visiting San Diego!”… Read More

Change Your Screen, Change Your Life

Just looking at photos of nature like our popular Monkey Faced Orchids can give some of the positive benefits of being outdoors. Monkey Faced Orchids (we love them too much to leave them out)
Where is your phone right now? Chances are good you can reach for it. One in three of you is reading this blog post on a phone right now. According to a 2016 Nielsen Research report, we are now spending nearly 11 hours a day using our tablets, smartphones, personal computers, multimedia devices, video games, radios, DVDs, DVRs and TVs. It’s an hour higher than 2015. We’re all told to put the devices down. You see how well that advice is going over! I’m as guilty as any of you. In my profession, it worries me. The more time we are looking at our smartphones while eating lunch or binging on “Narcos” during a weekend is time we aren’t appreciating the natural world around us.… Read More