Valentine’s Day

Heart Shaped Plants for Valentine’s Day

| February 10, 2021 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
At Good Earth Plant Company, we love flowers any time of year. But TBH, we love them even more if they aren’t cut flowers. Flowers are renewable at least, but they don’t last. It’s also true I’m still a little traumatized 40 years later after the early years when Good Earth Plants & Flowers went a little crazy this week. And with only two helpers, we did over three months’ business in two days. Instead, lean into the pandemic craze for indoor plants and support your favorite local nursery by purchasing a heart-shaped plant. You know it will fit, it’s perfect at any age, it suits everyone’s diet, and your recipient is guaranteed to love it.… Read More

Show Mother Earth The Love on Valentine’s Day

| February 12, 2020 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company, Nature and Wellbeing, Sustainable Living
Roses are a popular expression of love on Valentine's Day - but production can be hard on our planet. Photo: Dramm & Echter
Attention Good Earth Plant Company blog readers: Friday, February 14 is Valentine’s Day. You’re welcome. If you let this sneak up on you like a lot of people, you’ll be scrambling today to purchase the no-brainer Valentine’s Day favorites: chocolates and flowers, usually roses. Valentine’s Day roses and I go back a long way at Good Earth Plant Company.  For my first 14 years in business,  I ran a flower stand named “Good Earth Plant & Flower Co.” – very different from what we do today after four decades in business. Back in the 1970s and into the early 1990s, our main product was fresh cut flowers, and our biggest sales rush of the year was Valentine’s Day.… 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

Getting Down to Business on Valentine’s Day

| February 9, 2017 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping
Part of the Good Earth Plant Company Anniversary Series Even if you’ve had a Valentine’s Day or two that was a disappointment, most people have overall pleasant memories for their Valentine’s Days over the years. My own memories of Valentine’s Day have nothing to do with love stories or gifts. They are all about business. And how many dozen roses in a vase I could make in an hour (14). Valentine’s Day means business when you are a florist. In just a couple of days, three months of sales are achieved. My first few years in business were running a flower stand named “Good Earth Plant & Flower Co.”… Read More

Honor Mom the Good Earth Plants Way on Mother’s Day

| May 4, 2016 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Plantscaping
Three generations of Mumfords together at La Jolla Shores celebrating Mother's Day in better times, May 2016: (L to R) daughter Allie, Mom, and yours truly.
For those of you who aren’t aware, let me save you from being in the doghouse with Mom the rest of the year. Sunday, May 8 is Mother’s Day. You’re welcome. It’s really hard to miss it if you’re exposed to any kind of advertising. We have been bombarded for two months with advertising reminding us to buy those flowers, chocolates, and greeting cards to honor Mom. I’ve written before about the crazy time for florists at Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day is even crazier when it comes to flowers. The Society of American Florist reports Mother’s Day is the second largest flower holiday, accounting for 24 percent of all flowers sent annually – yes, one in four floral purchases all year long is for Mother’s Day.… Read More

Show Your Valentine Love with Something That Lasts: A Tree

| February 12, 2015 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living
Photo: Jonny Hughes/Flickr Creative Commons
Valentine’s Day is upon us again. As if we could possibly forget it. We have been bombarded since New Year’s Day with advertising reminding us to buy those chocolates, roses and greeting cards for our sweetheart. It’s wonderful to show someone special that you care about him or her. At Good Earth Plant Company, we think there are better ways to do it, at least from the perspective of an Eco-Warrior. Chocolates and flowers are fine, but they don’t last. If you want to give a gift that symbolizes everlasting love, plant a tree. Trees contribute significantly to the health of our planet.… Read More

Go Green for Valentine’s Day

| February 13, 2014 | Categories: Environment, Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Sustainable Living
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

Living Walls: More Romantic Than Cards and Candy

| February 6, 2014 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing
On February 13 and 14,  you can find me not in the aisle of a Hallmark store or candy shop, but at the Landscape Architects Expo in Long Beach. Good Earth Plant Company participated with a display in 2013, teaming with our living wall contract nursery, Green Meadow Growers. It was a great show! Many new leads and many new conversations about what we do best: designing, installing and maintaining living walls and green roofs. This year we upped the ante somewhat by agreeing to speak in a breakout session. My topic will be simple: “Designing Living Walls.” I’ll be speaking at 1:30 p.m.… Read More

A Valentine’s Day Perspective From The Other Side

| February 14, 2013 | Categories: Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company, Indoor Plants
My first entry into working in a plant and flower world was a flower stand. I was 20 years old. I owned it. I operated it. I knew every square inch of that tiny, windy shack. And just as I would be sweeping away the pine needles and bits of Christmas ribbon, Valentine’s Day would creep up like a big red monster. I started the annual phone calls to growers for roses by the dozen, wholesalers for vases, tiny cards with envelopes, plastic picks, glittery hearts on a stick. You get the picture. Red Roses. Long-stemmed Red Roses. Red Roses with babies breath. … Read More