sustainable building

Changed by Fire: Thriving After Disaster

Scenes from the Cocos fire. Courtesy NBC 7
Introduction: This blog post is not the normal bits of advice or inspiration about green building, plantscaping, or living walls. After the events of this week in San Diego and an unusually early start to what appears to be a long, hot summer and wildfire season to come, I couldn’t help but think about my own experiences surviving – and even thriving – after a wildfire. I wrote a lengthy journal entry about my experiences with a wildfire in 2003, when my own home was burned to the ground in the Cedar Fire. While many things were destroyed – including my marriage – new life literally did grow from the ashes, taking me in a direction I never could have imagined.… Read More

GreenScaped Buildings: Top Five Green Roofs and Living Walls Trends

Take a look at our latest: the innovative living wall at LPL Financial including a flat screen TV display.
If I am still awake at 11:45 p.m., I am compelled to prop my eyes open long enough to catch late night talk show host David Letterman’s “Top Ten List.” He keeps things light while skating right on the edge of being controversial. Good stuff! While my list isn’t quite as edgy or as long, my Top Five Green Roofs and Living Walls Trends are a cool way to quickly catch up on what’s new in our industry. The benefits of having a green roof are tremendous, from long-term energy savings to being just plain beautiful. It’s a growing niche business and we are proud as parents when one gets completed and is up and growing on its own.… 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.

New Living Wall at LPL Financial in San Diego

Take a look at our latest: the innovative living wall at LPL Financial including a flat screen TV display.
LPL Financial in downtown San Diego wanted something amazing for a high visibility area. The idea grew into a two-sided living wall of greenery surrounding a flat screen on one side. The 360-degree installation came with a few challenges, easily met by the GreenScaped team led by Project Manager Kerry Bauer. With plants located above and adjacent to the TV, multiple precautions were designed into the system to prevent any possibility of water reaching the electronic components. “The LPL Financial living wall represents a collaboration among Gensler Architects, Whiting Turner Construction and the team at GreenScaped Buildings to commit to a forward-thinking, sustainable project,” says GreenScaped Buildings owner Jim Mumford.… Read More

Westgate Hotel Renovation Includes Living Wall by GreenScaped Buildings

Pure Fitness living wall at the Westgate Hotel by GreenScaped Buildings
GreenScaped Buildings was featured in the San Diego Business Journal this week in an article about the recently completed renovations at the Westgate Hotel in downtown San Diego. The freestanding living wall is positioned next to the rooftop pool, just outside the Pure Fitness facility at the hotel. It’s a showstopper. It provides an excellent example of introducing plants into an urban environment. It has already been used as the backdrop for a couture fashion show by Zandra Rhodes. Read the article here.

Look Who’s at the Expo: Good Earth Plants & Jim Mumford

Jim Mumford at Landscape Expo
Jim Mumford and Good Earth Plants took the show on the road to Long Beach and the 2014 Landscape Architects Expo. Jim brought a living wall display and presented a seminar on living walls to landscape architects from Southern California and beyond. We hope to be working on some terrific projects with some of you soon.

See Jim Mumford and Good Earth Plant Company tonight on KPBS-TV

Jim Mumford and Nan Sterman, KPBS TV
See Jim Mumford of Good Earth Plants on “A Growing Passion” tonight on KPBS  Thursday, February 6, 8:30 p.m. KPBS Channel 15 Cox Cable 1011 HD Time Warner Cable 711 HD Green roofs were once a novelty.  No more! Today, they are gaining popularity thanks to their ability to capture runoff and keep it from polluting beaches and bays, to moderate temperatures inside the buildings they top, reduce atmospheric heating, and offer a beautiful, interesting, even healing alternative to an expanse of glaring, bare rooftop. Nan Sterman, host of “A Growing Passion” on KPBS-TV, visits green roofs large and small across San Diego County including a few of Jim Mumford’s favorites created by Good Earth Plant Company and GreenScaped Buildings for our clients.… 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

GreenScaped Buildings Waves Hello to New Living Wall at Oceanside Hotel

SpringHill Suites Living Wall
When a friend moves to the beach, everyone wants to visit. Oceanside’s newest resident is no exception. SpringHill Suites by Marriott is scheduled to open in February and a long list of visitors is already scheduled for a stay. Our GreenScaped Buildings team plays a big role by making sure beautiful, living plants are part of the picture. Kerry Bauer led our talented team of professionals who designed and installed a living wall on the west side of the property facing south, adjacent to the hotel entrance. The living wall is 16 by 16 feet, uses the G-02 system and was grown in for five months prior to installation from cuttings.… 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.