plants

Dangerous Plants: A Little Shop of Horrors

Audrey is fictional, but there are some real life plants even more dangerous.
Science backs up the reasons why we love horror movies and celebrate creepy things like Halloween. People enjoy the excitement and energy part of the “fight or flight” instinct. So we get ourselves all worked up to get that rush from screaming about harmless things that frighten us. Everyone has their favorite monsters. Some of mine are plants! It’s no joke. Some seriously dangerous plants can inflict injuries from annoying to life-threatening. Several common indoor plants can hurt you with their poisonous ways. So many people have become indoor plant and outdoor gardening enthusiasts thanks to the pandemic. While most plants are harmless, it only takes one wrong choice to make someone sick – especially a child or a pet.… Read More

Taking Nature On The Road Again – Trade Shows Are Back

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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

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

Time to Celebrate: It’s National Indoor Plant Week

She's got the right attitude for National Indoor Plant Week 2021! Photo: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels
Plant lovers everywhere, get ready to party – the week of  September 20, 2021, is National Indoor Plant Week. We’re giving you advanced notice! It is celebrated the third full week of September every year. I get it, there are a whole lot of these observations. One website claims there are 1,500 of them – that’s a LOT for 365 days and 52 weeks. During the same week, it’s also National Singles Week, National Farm Animals Week, and National Eczema Week. Your indoor plants deserve a celebration. All they want to do is grow and keep you happier and healthier. They don’t judge you and they don’t have to worry about social distancing either (how lucky!).… Read More

Nine Best Tips to Make the Most of Labor Day Weekend 2021

It isn't a coincidence many of our favorite memories involve being outside in Nature, like my 2019 trip to Austria. Get outside Labor Day Weekend! Photo: Jim Mumford
Labor Day 2021 is already here! Yes, Labor Day is recognized this Monday, September 6, 2021. Made any plans? The pandemic might be changing your traditional long weekend getaway. Why not take advantage of the situation to invest time in some late summer gardening which will pay off all through the fall month. Your yard will look great and you will get a healthy dose of Vitamin N – as in Nature. If you enlist your family, especially the kids, they’ll benefit from activities not involving screen time. Good Earth Plant Company’s nine best tips for Labor Day Weekend 2021: Start a compost pile to create some organic fertilizer for next spring’s garden.… Read More

Listen Up: Our Latest Blog Is a Podcast about Plants

Jim Mumford recently appeared on the "It's Your Life" radio show - and now you can hear the podcast version on demand. podcast about plants
Time for something a little different on the Good Earth Plant Company blog this week. You can listen instead of read! I recently spent an hour on the “It’s Your Life” radio show in San Diego, which is also a podcast on all platforms. The theme of the show: “Bringing the Living World of Plants Into Our  Everyday Life.” I couldn’t have done better myself! Host Jim Cooley and co-host Michelle Cooley (yes, they’re husband and wife)  put their curiosity and interviewing skills to good use. They both asked all about plants, plantscaping, living walls, moss walls, green roofs, biophilia and biophilic design – and more.… Read More

Your Top Moss Wall Questions – Answered!

When we first started fabricating moss walls for our clients, we never imagined they would become so popular. Photo: Good Earth Plant Company
We love enriching peoples’ lives with plants at Good Earth Plant Company. But sometimes, what really fires up our biophilic creativity with nature is working with moss, especially moss walls. When we first started fabricating moss walls for our clients, we never imagined they would become so popular. Biotech and high-tech companies really love moss walls. So do creative people – we’ve worked on moss walls for famous names you’d know in fashion and music. Maybe these smart minds have a specific affinity for the intricate patterns and endless options in shape, color, and size moss walls offer. When we post photos of our latest moss wall projects, we get a LOT of questions.… Read More

Indoor Plant Container Basics For Everyone

Mixing and matching different plant and containers into a display adds up to an impressive feature in a home or workspace. Photo: Jim Mumford
So much of our inspiration at Good Earth Plant Company comes from the containers our plants live in. Don’t get me wrong. Our mission remains focused on enriching peoples’ lives with plants. But over the years, some of my biggest brainstorms came when I stretched my thinking about containers. When I realized a green roof is just one big container for plants, it started a whole new business. Plants and containers are inseparable partners to us at Good Earth Plant Company. We work with our clients to choose their containers with care – and flair! Along with the indoor plant craze that started during the pandemic, people have been getting creative with containers, too.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Comes Alive at Art Alive 2021

It finally seems like the end of a long, long 16 months. While we still need to respect the pandemic and take sensible precautions – it’s time to celebrate! We made it! It’s perfect timing for the return of one of my favorite San Diego events and the very first public event for us since early 2020. Art Alive 2021 starts today. If you aren’t familiar with it, local and national floral designers create their own floral interpretations of artworks from the San Diego Museum of Art. There will be more than 100 floral displays of art masterpieces, and a whole weekend of flower-filled activities and events as a Museum fundraiser.… Read More

Celebrity Gardeners Who Love Plants

Celebrities are people, too. So during the pandemic when plants helped people cope and fill their time with a wonderful new hobby, celebrities started buying indoor plants and working on their gardens, too. Many of them couldn’t wait to share their new plants  and skills on their social media accounts. Along with all the Millennial and GenZers finding happiness and comfort with their plants, there are plenty of longtime OGs – Original Gardeners! These are the celebrities who’ve loved plants and gardening for years. Some have become horticultural authorities in their own right. At Good Earth Plant Company, we love anyone who loves plants like we do.… Read More