plantscaping

Reduce Workplace Distractions with Plants

| May 18, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
People working in an office with lots of plants.
Companies were quick to jump on board the open office design trend when it first showed up in the 1990s. Busting down the doors created community and encouraged creativity. People also needed less workspace thanks to technology. No one needed a huge computer workstation anymore when a laptop or even a tablet or phone would do. By opening up office space and shrinking the average workstation, companies could also save a lot of money on their office leases. The result: the International Facilities Managers Association says 70 percent of all workplaces today have some kind of open office design. In the 20 plus years since the walls came down, workplace efficiency experts have learned a lot – mainly that the pendulum swung a little too far and some corrections are needed.… Read More

World Naked Gardening Day, There’s a Serious Point

| May 3, 2017 | Categories: Agriculture and Farming, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing
Be careful with your gardening tools on World Naked Gardening Day - it's on May 5, 2018!
When I found out this Saturday, May 6 is officially the 13th annual “World Naked Gardening Day,” of course I laughed. Come on, who wouldn’t? Then I thought, ‘Boy, that’s going to take a LOT of sunscreen. More for some than others!’ World Naked Gardening Day is a real event, and while we all might giggle about it, there’s an important point to it. People across the globe are encouraged, on the first Saturday of May, to get outside and weed, dig, plant, fertilize, and otherwise tend to their garden space as Mother Nature made you: without any clothes on. Founder Mark Storey, a Seattle resident, says gloves, hats, and boots are perfectly OK by him.… Read More

Got a Prana Problem? We Have The Answer: Vastu

| April 26, 2017 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Green Roofs, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing
Whether you think it’s an art, a science, both, or neither, most Western cultures know about the Chinese practice of feng shui. It is a complex system of rules and beliefs created 3,000 years ago to balance positive and negative energy in the world around places people live, work, and play. But I bet you aren’t as familiar with a similar practice from India called vastu. Vastu is another system of creating harmonious living and working environments in conjunction with the forces of nature. Vastu is older than feng shui, and thought to have been carried across the Himalayan Mountains into China where it was adapted to the local culture where it became feng shui.… Read More

Six Mistakes You’re Making With Your Indoor Plants

| April 13, 2017 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Mistakes, we’ve all made a few (with apologies to Frank Sinatra). If I was writing about my OWN mistakes, this blog post would be a novel. Some very big mistakes have made the news recently. I haven’t made any quite that big and I’m sure you haven’t either. But I bet you ARE making some mistakes caring for your indoor plants. The most important thing about making a mistake is recognizing it, and learning from it. And not repeating it. These are everyday principles to our horticultural service technicians at Good Earth Plant Company but we all had to learn these things too.… Read More

Healthy Houseplants Your Stuffy Nose Will Love

| March 11, 2017 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Thanks to everything you’ve read on our blog (OK, and maybe elsewhere), you’ve decided to add plants to your indoor environment. It’s a smart move and with spring around the corner, it’s perfect timing. But for the one out of ten people who suffer from asthma and allergies, you need to make your choices carefully. We’ve known since the landmark 1989 NASA study we quote so often here that plants can greatly improve our indoor air quality by filtering harmful toxins and pollutants – things like benzene, formaldehyde, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). But many plants also produce pollen as part of their reproductive process.… Read More

Go Green Or Your Employees Might Go Home

| March 2, 2017 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing
The job market has been opening up. It’s great news for people who want to find a quality job. But it’s not such good news for employers trying to retain their most talented employees. Employers should pay attention to the findings in this year’s annual “State of the American Workplace” survey from the Gallup Organization. It gives them a game plan for developing the kind working environment talented people are looking for. A record 47 percent of the workforce say now is a good time to find a quality job. More than half of employees (51 percent) are searching for new jobs or watching for openings.… Read More

Can Plants Save The World? Isn’t It Worth Trying?

| February 17, 2017 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living, Water and Water Conservation
I started my career in the plant industry with a flower bucket stand in downtown San Diego. Now I’m heading toward my 40th anniversary in business at warp speed. It’s crazy! It took a lot of hard work, but it also took a little luck and lots of help along the way. I’m grateful for where it’s taken me. When you have the gratitude attitude, two things happen. First, you feel great. Second, you want to pass it on, and that feels great, too. In 2016, a presentation by Alpha Project Chief Operating Officer Amy Gonyeau opened my eyes to the growing scope of homelessness in San Diego.… Read More

Shhh, Be Quiet – Your Houseplants are Sleeping

| February 2, 2017 | Categories: Biophilia, Gardening, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping
When the weather is sunny during the first few months of the year in San Diego, it’s hard to remember it’s winter time. Yes, even in Southern California. The days are getting longer again but we have several more weeks to go before we are getting a full, healthy dose of sunlight and the days even out into spring. During these winter months, your houseplants are taking a nap. Like many other creatures, they slow down and “hibernate” during the winter. Living creatures including plants evolved to conserve their energy when resources are scarce due to the natural cycle of the seasons in winter.… Read More

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

What Did You Want To Know from Good Earth Plants in 2016?

| January 5, 2017 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Living Walls, Sustainable Living
Good Earth Plant Company has so many innovative ways to add plants to your interior design today, including spectacular moss walls.
The confetti and streamers are finally cleaned up, the holiday decorations (mostly) put away for another year. It’s time to begin 2017 with a clean slate. Doesn’t that feel good? It’s also a good time to look back, take stock, make some observations and learn some lessons. Applied to this blog, we try to provide useful, informative, and sometimes just plain enjoyable information. How do we know if we’re doing a good job? Thanks to technology, we know when people are clicking on our website and reading blog posts, not just the most recent post but every single blog post we’ve ever published.… Read More