Biophilic Design
We’ve just wrapped up one of my favorite workplace greenery and horticulture conferences – the annual Cultivate 22 held in Columbus, Ohio, by American Hort, our national organization supporting and promoting the horticulture industry.
We were back last year post-pandemic, but we were all still feeling the many effects of what we’d all gone through. This year, the energy, collaboration, and creativity were truly back. I could tell immediately from the bright-colored plant and floral displays in downtown Columbus. They were missing last year.
More than 650 exhibitors and 10,000 industry professionals like me attend this show to see all the latest products and plants and talk with colleagues to share and learn about the latest trends and solutions for our clients.… Read More
Go Green To Recruit Tech Talent
Before the pandemic, technology employees loved their free meals, foosball, and office happy hour. Post-pandemic, it’s going to take more than booze to bring tech workers back into the office.
Good Earth Plant Company has a hot tip for tech employers: Go green at work.
Many of the big tech companies including the Big Five known as GAMAM (Google, Apple, Meta [Facebook], Amazon, and Microsoft) or FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) announced they would bring back their workers into the office. Their employees said, “Umm, not so fast.” Recent surveys found nearly three-quarters of tech employees plan to quit their jobs this year in part because of lack of flexibility with the post-pandemic return to the office push and toxic workplace culture.… Read More
Plants Add Finishing Touch To Luxury Living In La Jolla
Good Earth Plant Company works most often on larger commercial projects in office buildings, hotels, restaurants, technology and biotech properties, shopping centers, and retail businesses.
When we get the opportunity to work on a residential project, it’s a treat and a special responsibility.
We recently completed our second project for luxury homebuilder Blue Heron Homes. Even their name tells you something about this Las Vegas-based builder. It chose Blue Heron because it “represents something beautiful and unexpected, yet organic and naturally occurring.” Blue Heron designs home in harmony with the environment.
Blue Heron called on us for plantscaping design services adding plants to a brand-new oceanfront home in La Jolla.… Read More
New Thoughts for 2022 About The Nature of the Post-Pandemic Workplace
The modern American office is now competing with the work from home (WFH) environment. Employees are voting with their feet for more flexibility in their lives. The days of the open office and cubicle farms are over.
How should the workplace evolve?
It was time for my colleagues and me with Silverado Roundtable to dig deep to offer human resources professionals, facilities managers, and the design community some tools to address the post-pandemic reality. We present The Nature of the Post-Pandemic Workplace – Second Edition.
I never thought I’d write ONE white paper. Now I’ve written two! How did we get here?… Read More
Celebrating Black Plant Entrepreneurs
It’s important to us at Good Earth Plant Company to use our platform to celebrate the contributions of Black Americans to horticulture and gardening during Black History Month 2022. Last year’s blog post on Black agriculture pioneers was one of our most well-read posts in 2021. Thank you!
If you didn’t get a chance to read about Tuskegee University pioneers Dr. George Washington Carver and Dr. Booker T. Whatley, Frederick McKinley, Marie Clark Taylor, Abra Lee, and Ron Finley, you might consider taking a few minutes to get acquainted with these impressive people.
But we barely scratched the surface. There are many more Black gardeners, designers, and plant stylists currently making news and creating a unique plant culture that’s flourishing.… Read More
Pantone 2022 Color of the Year Is Very Peri
At Good Earth Plant Company, we look forward to the annual announcement of the Pantone Color of the Year. It’s true! And we know you do, too. We get a massive response when our review and critique of the annual announcement is posted. Everyone has an opinion about color.
Every color creates different emotions and gives us all the feels: happy, sad, excited, calm, even hungry or relaxed. Our reactions have roots in psychological effects, biological conditioning, and cultural imprinting.
Color is also tied to memory. Color helps the brain store and process images more efficiently than black or white. We remember colorful images better.… Read More
Green TV Time: Jim Mumford on KLCS-TV Los Angeles
We’ve been sitting on this news for months. Just like kids at Christmas, the November 10 air date finally arrived for Good Earth Plant Company’s feature stories, and interviews on KLCS-TV show “Everybody with Angela Williamson.”
KLCS -TV is a multiple Emmy Award-winning noncommercial PBS affiliate station, broadcasting to more than 15 million viewers in Los Angeles and Southern California. Eight million households per month, and one out of every 10 TV viewers in Southern California, watch KLCS. So you can imagine the excitement level about spreading the message about Good Earth’s mission to enrich peoples’ lives with plants. When KLCS host and producer Dr.… Read More
Your Top Questions About Biophilic Design Answered
The coronavirus pandemic made us more aware of creating healthier indoor spaces, especially in the workplace. Employers are starting to pay attention. “The Great Resignation” has fired up their interest in making workplaces safe and inviting.
I’ve read the words “biophilia” and “biophilic design” in the news and on websites more than ever before in the last 18 months. It’s mentioned in articles like this one, and this one, and even this one.
Good Earth Plant Company does its part by enriching peoples’ lives with plants and using our award-winning blog to inform our readers about the principles of biophilia and biophilic design.… Read More
Take A Virtual Tour of the Good Earth Plant Company’s New Biophilic Warehouse
After more than four decades, Good Earth Plant Company has a brand new 2,000 square foot working warehouse and workshop facility. It’s been on our wish list since we moved to our Kearny Mesa property in 1994.
When I bought the property 18 years ago, there was a large, three-sided mechanic’s shed. It was torn down in 2007. Since that time, we used the old concrete floor as a large patio and created a “living lab” with examples of living walls. This is where the new warehouse sits. We relocated our living walls and they continue to thrive. We’ll give you a tour in a future blog post.… Read More
Living Walls Aren’t Built In A Day
Some people call them green walls, others call them plant walls or live walls, and we also hear them called vertical gardens. Some versions are edible walls. Some are inside, some are outside. Good Earth Plant Company refers to these beautiful displays of nature by their most common name: living walls.
We recently attempted to count the number of living walls we’ve installed over the past 15 years. We stopped counting at 200. They range in size from small items that resemble traditional works of art to living walls on a massive scale. Our tallest? The living wall on the exterior of the Loews Santa Monica Hotel (80 feet).… Read More