Healthy interior design

Cool Moss Walls: The Hottest Trend in Green Living

Good Earth Plant Company installed this moss wall at the Bluebeam software company in Pasadena, California, covering three of our hot design trends: moss walls, the WELL building standard, and the color green.
We make the rounds of all top events in the green building industry checking on the latest products and trends. I just returned from Longwood Gardens. The hot topic was hotter than San Diego’s last heat wave: moss walls. As Bernie Sanders might say, moss walls were YUUUUGE! It’s been a long time since everyone was this excited about a single product. The reasons are simple. Moss walls provide all the benefits of traditional living walls and several more. They can thrive in nearly any indoor setting. Growing conditions can be far from perfect – but they don’t need any light, water or maintenance.… Read More

Getting Rid Of The Fungus Gnats Among Us

You're not seeing spots, you're seeing fungus gnats on your plants.
While attending the Wellbeing @ Work event last week at BKM, interior designer Jean Young shared with me that she is one of my regular blog post readers and enjoys both our blog and newsletter. Thank you! She told me about a real problem with her interior plants and asked me to write about it. Of course! I bet there are a lot of you with the very same problem. Of the six pests (spider mites, mealy bugs, thrip, scale, white fly and fungus gnats) Good Earth Plants deals with on interior plants, fungus gnats are far and above the biggest pain.… Read More

Good Earth Plants has the Prescription for Sick Building Syndrome

It's not rocket science, really: humble plants like this Pothos can improve worker productivity. Photo: Julien Gong Min
Many of us know what it’s like to work in an office in a city like San Diego. According to a study by global architecture firm HOK as reported in The Guardian newspaper, people in cities spend 90 percent of their time in artificial environments. A newly defined phenomenon in these work environments is referred to as Sick Building Syndrome.  The National Safety Council describes Sick Building Syndrome as a situation where individuals experience acute health effects linked to being inside a building. These symptoms include headaches; eye, nose, and throat irritation; a dry cough; dry or itchy skin; dizziness and nausea; difficulty in concentrating; fatigue; and sensitivity to odors.… Read More

The Fall Frenzy

Living Wall Installation
What a summer! It feels like I turned around from the Memorial Day weekend only to stare right into the Labor Day holiday. It’s been a busy few months to say the least. And while it might not be easy to remember much time spent by the ocean or with the kids, this past summer will be remembered as “the summer of installations!” Great news for us in that we kept the staff busy and working hard to make the living architecture concepts and ideas we described to customers last spring – come to life. Our expert team of Kerry Bauer, Kevin Norton and Nilo Cabrera really made it happen these past few weeks.… Read More