plants

Plants Should Be Tax Deductible

| April 10, 2019 | Categories: Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping
April 15 is right around the corner. Have you finished filing your tax returns? When you are a business owner like I am, you have to think about tax issues constantly. Sometimes it feels like we are all employees of the IRS when you think about it. When you think about taxes, you put a lot of thought into your deductions. Most people know about the big ones: mortgage interest, retirement plan contributions, childcare, and the standard deductions for people and dependents. Thanks Ted and Allie! What a game changer if we could make plants tax deductible! Many financial experts tell you if you can make a reasonable argument, the IRS will at least consider some unusual tax deductions.… Read More

Go To The Zoo For the Pandas, Stay for the Plants

| March 27, 2019 | Categories: Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
The “World Famous” San Diego Zoo’s two giant pandas will return to China at the end of April. Bai-Yun, 27, and her son, Xiao Liwu, 6, are probably the Zoo’s most popular animals (maybe after the koalas). So you’ve got about a month left to see them and wish them farewell. You might be fighting the crowds, but it shouldn’t be quite as bad as the superbloom frenzy. If you’re from out of town, the zoo is a must visit. But a lot of people miss one of the most impressive things about the San Diego Zoo: the plants! In addition to all of the animals, the San Diego Zoo has thousands of plants as part of the animal habitats.… Read More

Five Reasons Plants Improve Your Bottom Line

| February 20, 2019 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Humble office plants like this desk terrarium can make you more productive and healthier at work. Photo: Stocksnap/Creative Commons
Plants have never been hotter. The humble indoor plant is suddenly a design trend. We have thousands of people calling themselves “plant parents” who collect and cherish house plants. The trend is creeping its way into more workplaces, too. The benefits of plants in the workplace is something we’re passionate about at Good Earth Plant Company. We’d like more businesses to get passionate about it, too. We know there is one thing ALL businesses are passionate about: making money. Let’s face it, we’re all working hard to earn a good living so we can live well and indulge our interests. So if we told you adding plants is good for your business and will help you make more money, would we get your attention?… Read More

Our Valentine’s Day Love Letter To Plants

| February 14, 2019 | Categories: Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Plants like these Sweetheart Hoya cuttings make people happy. Science proves it! Photo: Wikimedia
Happy Valentine’s Day (or as some of you refer to it, Singles Appreciation Day). It’s a day to take time and appreciate the love in your life. Why limit this to people? At Good Earth Plant Company, we’ve had a love affair with plants for more than four decades. This is a relationship built to last the test of time. More and more people agree with us. Growing numbers of people, especially among the Millennial generation, are bringing plants into their homes and caring for them. For many people, plants have become more like pets than just decoration. We love you for it!… Read More

Do These Six Things to Keep Indoor Plants Healthy During Winter

| February 6, 2019 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
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

Knock on Wood! Hedging My Bets with This Fruitful Blog

| November 14, 2018 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
I’m always grateful when someone thinks enough of one of my blog posts to share it with other people. Thank you! I’m going to pay it forward this week by sharing a column written last week by San Diego author and language expert Richard Lederer. You may have heard him on the radio or attended one of his presentations. Richard writes a weekly column for the San Diego Union-Tribune called “Lederer On Language.” His most recent edition focused on language we use today that comes from a time in history when America was mainly an agricultural society. People did what came naturally when looking for ways to express their thoughts: they took inspiration from nature, from gardening, and raising crops.… Read More

Eeek! Ten Monstrous Plants For Halloween

| October 30, 2018 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants
People love being scared. We love it so much we have an entire holiday devoted to scary things: Halloween. Science backs up the reasons why we love horror movies and celebrate creepy things: we embrace the excitement and energy part of the “fight or flight” instinct. So we get ourselves all worked up to get that rush from screaming and getting freaked out. Everyone has their favorite monsters. Some people dress up like them. I have my favorite monsters too – and they are plants! There are some seriously dangerous plants that can inflict injuries from annoying to serious. Some of them can kill you with their poisonous ways.… Read More

How Long Do Plants Live?

| October 10, 2018 | Categories: Gardening, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
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

Replica Plants Are Plantscaping Rock Stars

| September 26, 2018 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Being in business for 40-plus years means a lot of changes, nearly always for the better. Looking back on some of our projects is a little like looking back through photos of yourself and cringing at some of the clothes you were wearing. They seemed SO cool at the time. Although my famous mullet haircut still has a whole lot of fans. Artificial plants fall in this category. If you’re old enough, or you’ve binge watched a few good 1980s situation comedies, remember the artificial silk plants and flowers that used to be popular? People used to stuff the fake plants on top of their kitchen cabinets in the space between the cabinet top and the ceiling.… Read More

Making The Home Office Productive and Healthier

| September 6, 2018 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Case Studies, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
Our horticulture technicians at Good Earth Plant Company visit some of San Diego’s largest and most visible employers every day. We love creating healthier and more productive workspaces by introducing nature and natural elements through interior Plantscaping. Sometimes it’s living plants, and sometimes it’s through built-in structures like living walls and moss walls. Employees tell us they love working in these spaces, and we love helping them be successful while improving their wellbeing. But there are a whole lot of people we aren’t seeing. It’s the growing percentage of the workforce that doesn’t work in a traditional office setting. You might be surprised how big this group is.… Read More