living wall

Flashbacks in Florida at the Tropical Plant Industry Expo

| January 19, 2017 | Categories: Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
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

Projects Inspiring Us At Good Earth Plants RN

| September 29, 2016 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Green Roofs, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
Regular blog readers know about my passion for improving our communities and our health and well being through strengthening our connection to nature. It’s amazing to me how something simple like introducing natural elements in our work environment like plants and natural light can reduce job stress and improve our health overall. I get inspired when I see people around the world creating projects taking this simple idea and making it real. Yes, I also admit to being a little envious too, because I would love to see more projects like this in San Diego. Several projects got a “wow” out of me and I’d like to share them with you for your daily dose of “wow” instead of a basketball trick shot or cute pet video.… Read More

Amazon Goes Big With New HQ Biosphere in Seattle

| August 4, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Rendering of the Amazon headquarters "biospheres" under construction in Seattle. Photo Courtesy NBBJ
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

Sharing My Super Power With You

| February 25, 2016 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Living Walls, Plantscaping
Jim Mumford, AKA the Eco-Warrior Photoshop artwork by Theodore Mumford
Mary Golden of the Golden Group recently interviewed me for a Plantscaping industry blog, and the result was published earlier this week. It gave me an opportunity to talk about some of my favorite topics, the same ones I write about here: Biophilia, innovations in living walls like the spectacular wall in the Birmingham, Alabama airport, and the future of our business. Mary asked me a question I didn’t expect: What is your super power? I gave her this answer: “It’s a combination – being engaged in; my industry, the community, developers, architects and designers, paying attention, watching for opportunity and perseverance.… Read More

Good Earth Plants in the Spotlight on San Diego 6

| November 18, 2015 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Media Coverage
Good Earth Plant Company had the opportunity this week to appear on San Diego 6 Morning News with anchor Heather Myers to talk about toxins lurking in the air in our indoor environments, and how adding plants can help clean the air and improve both your physical and mental health. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? If you missed it, you can check it out here: Those few minutes on TV are precious and we don’t want to waste a second of it. For every interview like mine you see, there is a ton of preparation. First of all, when you see us at 7:30 a.m.… Read More

Get Fresh Ideas at the Good Earth Plants Fall Open House on Friday, October 16

| October 13, 2015 | Categories: Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
In San Diego we are blessed to enjoy the last bits of summer weather almost until Halloween. Good Earth Plant Company loves to take advantage of this with our annual Fall Open House every year in the middle of October. This year, our 2015 Fall Open House and Plant Sale at our warehouse and demo garden takes place Friday October 16, from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Open House takes place at our headquarters, 7922 Armour Street in San Diego. See a map here. What’s behind our invitation to you? Everyone at Good Earth Plant Company is very proud of the work we do, and we love to share what we are about.… Read More

Going Green is a Cruise

| October 8, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company, Sustainable Living
This new living wall aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship will really get around. Courtesy Royal Caribbean
The cruise line Royal Caribbean got our attention last year when Good Earth Plant Company learned that two of his ships, “Oasis of the Seas” and “Allure of the Seas” featured their own onboard living walls covered in 12,000 beautiful living plants for their passengers to enjoy. We were – and still are – so glad to see ships growing real plants instead of displaying all replicas as many have done in the past. Royal Caribbean recently got in touch with us to let us know about some of its additional efforts to be environmentally responsible while sailing on the world’s oceans.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Gives Thomas Jefferson School of Law a Natural Makeover

| June 26, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping
The fresh new planters are looking great thanks to a little TLC from Good Earth Plants Company.
One of our favorite projects ever stemmed from installing the living wall on the fifth floor of the new Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) downtown. We installed the original living wall in January 2011 and it got rave reviews. Here’s what it looked like then: Because the client was so pleased with our diligent, detail-oriented performance (and our tidiness too), we also got the contract to install all of the built in planters on the fifth and eighth floors (not quite a green roof), ground level and the interior atrium. We performed maintenance for the first year, and then due to budget constraints, the school decided to take the service and care of their plants in-house.… Read More

Living Walls With An International Twist

| June 18, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Living Walls, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living
Our first living wall made out of preserved moss panels imported from Italy. Photo: GreenScaped Buildings
Even though we’ve been installing living walls and vertical gardens in many forms for nearly ten years, there is always something new to learn and to work with. GreenScaped Buildings installed its first ever project this month using preserved “moss” panels. These panels are imported from Italy, and there isn’t anything else like them. They are fire retardant, preserved and super easy to care for. The panels are actually made of preserved lichens. Lichens are composite organisms, which include the properties of simple algae and fungi. They are similar to mosses but don’t have stems or leaves. The lichen is collected without any damage to the vegetation or environment and is hand applied to the panel backing.… Read More

The Art of Living Walls Around the World

| January 29, 2015 | Categories: Biophilic Design, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
One of two living walls at the airport in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Photo: Courtesy Green and Grey
Living walls are springing up around the world as more people recognize the importance of incorporating nature into our everyday urban world. At Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings, we couldn’t be happier to see this trend. One of our Good Earth Plant Company employees recently took a trip to Shanghai, China as part of a course at San Diego State University. While there she saw many examples of living walls and other ways China’s largest city found ways to bring nature closer to the people living there. Here are some of my favorite examples of amazing living walls around the world.… Read More