plants

News From Good Earth Plant Company: Spring 2015 Newsletter

| March 20, 2015 | Categories: Case Studies, Newsletters
Good Earth Plant Company Leaflet Newsletter
Click here to read the Spring 2015 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 latest featured projects Check our Calendar for fun, informative green themed events in San Diego 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.

Choose Plants to Suit Your Personality

| March 6, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Spider plants are a smart choice as a beneficial office plant.
At first glance, March doesn’t seem to have any significant holidays. But take a closer look. We love March holidays at Good Earth Plant Company, because the holidays are green! The obvious example is St. Patrick’s Day. Lucky for us plant loving leprechauns, we never get pinched since we are always wearing green. Although it isn’t a formal holiday, we also celebrate the first day of Spring on March 21. We joke that it’s always summer in San Diego, but we do have seasons with changes in temperature and precipitation as the Earth’s axis tilts toward the sun, and away from the sun as it rotates around the sun.… Read More

Get Your Food Closer to Home and Save the Planet

| February 26, 2015 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Sustainable Living
A drawing of the planned vertical farm in Jackson, Wyoming. Courtesy Vertical Harvest
Regular readers here know how much I love urban farming. Good Earth Plant Company employee Dawn Weatherford (thank you, Dawn!) tipped me off to one of the most exciting urban farming project I’ve ever seen and I wanted to share it with you. The startup company Vertical Harvest plans to turn an old industrial building in Jackson, Wyoming into a huge vertical farm. It will use a hydroponic system to grow vegetables like microgreens and tomatoes. The photos and description of what the company intends to do are eye-popping. The city of Jackson is partnering with Vertical Harvest to make this happen.… Read More

Gung Hay Fat Choi, Chinese New Year is here!

| February 19, 2015 | Categories: Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Typical "Lucky Bamboo" plants for sale in Hawaii. Photo: Ken Starr
Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese observe a lunar calendar, meaning each month begins when the night sky is darkest, on the new moon. The New Year starts with the first new moon and ends with the full moon 15 days later. This year, Chinese New Year falls on Thursday, February 19. We begin the year 4713. We love holidays at Good Earth Plants and Greenscaped Buildings. Who doesn’t? And being plantscaping professionals, we always associate holidays with the plants that represent the occasion. The plant associated with Chinese and Chinese New Year is something most people know as “Lucky Bamboo.”… Read More

Hear Jim Mumford on “Communities Digital News Hour” Thursday, Feb 5

| February 5, 2015 | Categories: Indoor Plants, Media Coverage, Sustainable Living
Jim Mumford of Good Earth Plants in San Diego on Communities Digital News Hour radio, commdiginews.com
If you know anything about Good Earth Plant Company from reading our blog page, you know how much we all love what we do to enhance and transform our clients’ environment, health and well-being with plants and flowers. A very close second is educating people about the many benefits of plants. I never miss an opportunity to communicate all the ways human beings rely on plants and benefit from them, and the need for us to think about how to preserve and cultivate more plants in our urban environment. If you’ve heard me you know how enthusiastic I can get! I have a new opportunity to reach more people through a regular column starting this week with the online news organization Communities Digital News, based in Washington DC.… Read More

Beyond the Chia Pet: Plants Using Their Heads

| January 15, 2015 | Categories: Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
This plant head project from A Chef in the Garden looks like she is from the islands.
  Did you get a Chia Pet for Christmas? Chances are you or someone you know did, or maybe you’ve gotten one in the past.Would you believe 500,000 Chia Pets in all their versions including Sponge Bob, President Obama and Willie from Duck Dynasty have sold every year for over 30 years? That’s a lot of ch-ch-chia! The Chia Pet is even in the Smithsonian. True. There is something about the idea of turning plants into people that has intrigued gardeners and artists for decades. I confess I’m obsessed with plant heads and find myself collecting photos of the best. Lately I’ve been running across a lot of projects with this theme, and so I decided to use my head and share them with you.… Read More

A Merry Message from Jim Mumford and Good Earth Plants

| December 24, 2014 | Categories: Green Roofs, Living Walls, Newsletters
Ho Ho Ho! The holidays are upon us. The Good Earth Elves have been busy decorating our clients’ homes and businesses for the season, including our custom creations for commercial clients Qualcomm and Illumina. My busy travel schedule not only taught me a lot, it made me appreciate San Diego even more than I already do. Out of the four conferences, I thoroughly enjoyed Nashville (it was cold – 28 degrees) and the Cities Alive Conference. Lots of Jim in Plants conversations about green roofs and living walls (vertical gardens) and how to design them, what system and plants to use and how to maintain them long term.… Read More

Caring for a Christmas Tree: Debunking the Myths

| December 11, 2014 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants
During the holiday season, we want to keep our Christmas trees looking green and lively to enjoy as long and as safely as possible. There are many myths circulating with tips on how to care for your Christmas tree. Which ones really work? Count on Good Earth Plant Company to tell you the truth about what works and what doesn’t. Myth 1: Put an aspirin in the water because it helps the tree live longer. Myth 2: Sugar in the water is good for the tree. Myth 3: Let the tree sit outside in a bucket of water for 24 hours before setting it up in your house.… Read More

Give Thanks For Good Earth Plant Company’s Trivia Contest

| November 13, 2014 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company
Which of these popular Thanksgiving vegetables is native to North America, and which ones are not?
Part of our mission at Good Earth Plant Company is to share what we have learned and educate our clients and friends. But we also like to have fun, so why not combine the two? Welcome to our first Good Earth Plant Company Trivia Contest, first in what we hope will be a long running series. We will give you ten questions on a specific theme. The rules are simple. Email your ten answers to Katelyn@goodearthplants.com The person who gets the most questions right by 12 midnight on Saturday, November 15 gets a swell prize: your choice of a beautiful potted orchid, or a $20 Starbucks gift card.… Read More

From Eyesore to Eye-Popping: Our Planned Parenthood Living Wall

| November 10, 2014 | Categories: Case Studies, Living Walls
Plants can truly be the most transformative of gifts. Planned Parenthood of Mission Valley was the lucky recipient of a donor gift, designated specifically to transform a old fountain into a centerpiece for its outdoor entry gathering space. GreenScaped Buildings Project Manager Kerry Bauer worked with the client to determine which living wall system would be the best solution and fit within the existing space. After a thorough design evaluation, a little creativity turned up the perfect plan. Since the client had an open-ended time frame, we started with less mature plants and gave them double the normal growing time to securely root into the manufacturer’s shallow cell tray system before being mounted vertically.… Read More