plantscaping

Don’t Miss The Plant Bargains at the Good Earth Plants Open House

We are knee-deep in palms, ficus and orchids here at Good Earth Plants and busy getting ready to welcome you to our Spring Plant Sale and Open House on Friday, April 24 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Have you sent your RSVP yet? What are you waiting for! The greenhouse and demonstration garden have never looked better with living wall and green roof displays and “Plant Portrait” samples fully planted and lush with spring growth. Some of the smaller living walls will be on sale and you can take one home with you. We also have a number of assorted items for sale from indoor green plants and pottery  to 10-foot Queen palm trees.… Read More

Welcome Spring at the Good Earth Plants Open House and Plant Sale

The Good Earth Plant Company green roof seven years ago and today.
The buds are bursting, hotels are filled and days are longer. It must be spring in San Diego.  It’s also time for the Good Earth Plants crew to sweep up and dust off our warehouse and demo garden so we can show off some exciting new projects at our Open House and Plant Sale on Friday, April 25 from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Opening the doors to guests is a great way for us to see our operation with fresh eyes. Our talented staff coaxes new growth to show off our living wall displays and our now seven-year-old green roof, one of the first in San Diego.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Salutes San Diego’s “Art Alive 2014”

Jim Mumford's "Art Alive" floral design interprets the painting "Sunday Afternoon" by Hughie Lee-Smith.
Spring in San Diego is an amazing time of year: perfect weather, plants and flowers in bloom, and longer days to enjoy it all. Spring also brings an event Good Earth Plants has supported for the past 15 years: San Diego’s Art Alive. This annual fundraiser for the San Diego Museum of Art brings together floral and plant designers and art for three day celebration April 11-13, 2014. Floral designers and those in related industries (like us at Good Earth Plants) create a interpretation of a piece of art using plants and flowers as their living medium. This year, I chose the painting “Sunday Afternoon” by Hughie Lee-Smith.… Read More

Plants In The Workplace Show Major Benefits

Scientific studies prove it: Plants in our working environment improve our mental and physical health.
What once began as an interesting topic for plant people to chew on has taken root in serious science. There is proof working in an environment with plants provides multiple benefits. At last we can measure what I have experienced for years: Plants make good sense in many ways. We can link working in plant filled environments to cleaner air, better health and increased productivity. Let’s look at each of these benefits in more detail. Cleaner Air: When plants transpire water vapor from their leaves, they pull air down around their roots. This supplies their root microbes with oxygen. The root microbes also convert other substances in the air (such as toxic chemicals) into a source of food and energy.… Read More

Hospitals “Greening Up” Healthcare

One of the patient rooms' at Sharp Memorial Hospital that looks out over the Good Earth Plants "green roof."
If you have visited a friend of family member in a hospital, chances are you brought them flowers or a plant. Why? Besides being a thoughtful gesture, studies have shown that plants play an important role in the healing process. Viewing settings with plants or nature for a few minutes can promote measurable restoration even in hospital patients who are acutely stressed. Patients heal more quickly, use less pain medication and complain less to staff. (Ulrich, 2002) I have read lots and lots of studies about plants and healing during my years in the plant industry. This is serious science and can be summed up in one sentence: Plants make us FEEL GOOD.… Read More

News from Good Earth Plant Company: March 2014 Newsletter

Click here to read the March 2014 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 featured project, the new living wall at LPL Financial Find out about upcoming green living events Plus: Thanks A Bunch!, Lunch & Learn (CEU Program), and Good Earth Plants Is Hiring Get our newsletter first 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.

Go Green for Valentine’s Day

It’s that time again. The drugstore aisles are overflowing with shades of pink and red and the Hallmark people are planning how to spend their first quarter bonus. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow! Don’t get me wrong. Now that I don’t deal on the retail side of the holiday, I’m good with buying cards and flowers and chocolate hearts. It’s a happy time, even if it started off as a rather morbid holiday. Some historians tell the tale of a man named Valentin who helped Christians escape harsh prisons. While imprisoned for his acts by the Romans, Valentin fell in love with the jailer’s daughter.… Read More

Water Water Nowhere: California’s Drought Crisis of 2014

California’s water situation has officially become a CRISIS. Governor Jerry Brown has declared a State of Emergency for California and we are scheduled to have the driest year (2014) on record. Reservoirs are at very low levels and the snowpack is 20 percent of the normal average for January. That’s the bad news. And there isn’t much good news. For Good Earth Plants and GreenScaped Buildings, increasing water costs and less rainfall means a quantum shift in our thinking. Gone are the days of the lush green lawn. We are designing, installing and maintaining drought-tolerant plantscapes that rely on minimal irrigation.… Read More

Recharging and Growing in Florida to Start 2014 Fresh

January means it’s time to recharge. Holiday decorations need to be put away, tax forms start arriving and invariably a resolution or two gets made and then broken. With all the stuff going on that a new year brings, I will count on recharging during a trip down to Florida for the TPIE event in Ft. Lauderdale. Sun, fun and endless displays of orchids and ginger plants greet me at TPIE, which stands for the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition. It is a wonderful gathering of tropical (and other) plant professionals from 33 countries and 44 states, all geared up to show off the latest things growing and the things that help make them grow.… Read More

Good Earth Plants Leaflet Newsletter: Winter 2014 Edition

Click here to read our Good Earth Plant Company Winter 2014 edition of the Good Earth Leaflet newsletter. In this issue: Letter from the President Upcoming Events Featured Project: ActivCare Chula Vista Employee Spotlight: Celso Gomez Lunch & Learn Program (Continuing Education Units) Not on our newsletter email list? Want to sign up? Visit the home page of our website and scroll to the end of the page to provide us your email address.