biophilia

Viva Magenta is Pantone 2023 Color of the Year

Cordyline fruticosa, known as the Hawaiian Ti Plant, is a stunning example of the 2023 Pantone Color of the Year - Viva Magenta. Photo: Erin Lindley, Good Earth Plant Company
Good Earth Plant Company first started writing about the Pantone Color of the Year in 2017. Design trends matter to our clients, but it was mainly something fun to do. The big surprise: how much it matters to you, too! After a few years of peaceful, soothing colors to get us through the pandemic, Pantone is ready for a party. The 2023 choice is a bold deep pink, “Viva Magenta.” Magenta is equal parts cool and warm, a pink with a hint of purple. It’s a color Pantone’s executives say represents an optimistic future. Pantone Vice President Laurie Pressman is quoted saying Viva Magenta represents a prevailing desire for optimism, resilience, outside-the-box thinking and technological innovation to create a better world.… Read More

Let’s Talk About Biophilic Design

There is only one thing I enjoy more than enriching peoples’ lives with plants at Good Earth Plant Company. It’s talking to people about enriching their lives with plants – especially when I get to speak to a big audience.  This week, I made my third appearance on the daily talk show “It’s Your Life.” It is a podcast, livestream, and live YouTube show. Hosted by Dr. James Cooley and co-hosted and produced by his wife, Michelle Cooley. The Cooleys invite people from all walks of life with different professions and areas of expertise. Dr. Cooley is a motivational speaker and a retired Navy Officer with 23 years of service.… Read More

Here’s To Your Health From Fix Medical Group and Good Earth Plant Company

Fix Medical Group case manager Jesika Casey greets clients and visitors along with our moss wall and orchids. Photo: Jim Mumford
Good Earth Plant Company blog readers know our mission is to enrich peoples’ lives with plants. Those lives include our clients, guests, employees, suppliers, and everyone who interacts with them. What does “enrich” mean, exactly? The formal definition, according to Merriam-Webster, is “to make rich or richer, especially by the addition or increase of some desirable quality, attribute, or ingredient.” Money is the first thing that comes to your mind when talking about being “rich.” Who wouldn’t find life a lot easier if you had a lot of money? We didn’t win the Powerball this week, so we can’t help you there.… Read More

Use the Fall Time Change To Follow the Light

When we ignore our need for connection to the environment, we suffer - including during the annual fall time change. Photo: Image by Julita
You may want to blame any blues next week on the coming election, but our relationship with Mother Nature is more likely to blame. The weekend before Election Day, we go through our annual change back from Daylight Time to Standard Time in the U.S. and Canada (unless you’re reading this in Arizona, Hawaii, or a few small spots). Turn your clocks back that still need human adjustments on Saturday night before going to bed. You’re welcome. Our public service announcement for the week is concluded. The 60 minutes we adjusted our clocks suddenly makes us aware we are slowly losing daylight.… Read More

Can Green Roofs Save The World?

We might be underdogs like Rocky when it comes to fighting climate change, but we need to get off the canvas and fight to win. Photo: Jim Mumford green roofs save
Picking up where it left off in 2019, the organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities focused on resilient cities at its annual “Cities Alive” conference this week in Philadelphia. Nothing would stop me from making the trip east this year to learning from my colleagues about the latest green roof initiatives and building methods. I first discovered Green Roofs for Healthy Cities in 2006. I visited Manhattan for the opportunity to work for a day with Leslie Hoffman of Earth Pledge NYC. We had met earlier in San Diego at a People for Livable Places event. I became enthralled with green roofs, but I had no idea at the time how to build one or even what they really looked like.… Read More

Return To Work Incentive Bringing Employees Back

return to work incentives
Labor Day 2022 is now behind us, the unofficial end of summer. Back to school and back to work for many Americans. I’m back from a late summer trip to Minneapolis to meet with my workplace greenery colleagues of the Silverado Roundtable, and I snuck in a family visit in Denver. I’m glad to be back at Good Earth Plant Company with many exciting new projects ahead this fall. Public service announcement: Need us to enrich people’ lives with plants at work or home? Contact us now! But back to work means something different after the coronavirus pandemic. It doesn’t necessarily mean going back to the office environment.… Read More

Fig Tree Café Gets A Plant-Filled Makeover

Good Earth Plant Company enjoyed giving the original Fig Tree Cafe in Pacific Beach a well deserved refresh. Photo: Jim Mumford Good Earth Plant Company
We love working with new clients at Good Earth Plant Company. When Rise & Shine Hospitality Group Chief Operating Officer Cesar Garcia needed to remodel the original Pacific Beach location of Fig Tree Café, he started the same place most of us do: Google. Good Earth Plant Company is so glad he did! If you aren’t familiar with Fig Tree Café, it opened its first location in Pacific Beach in 2008 with a simple mission rooted in the creation of an inviting and genuine dining experience. Since then, CEO and founder Johan Engman opened in Liberty Station in 2013, and recently in East Village.… Read More

Top Trends at Cultivate 22: Color and Creativity

This three dimentional "grotto wall" using moss and living plants was my favorite display at Cultivate 22. I can't wait to build one myself! Photo: Jim Mumford
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

Our first moss wall project in 2022 for one of the GAMAM companies. Photo: Good Earth Plant Company sustainability must
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

Even Black Thumbs Can Grow Orchids

Yes, you can grow orchids! Good Earth Plant Company tells you our secrets to grow orchids. Photo: Pixabayv
During the pandemic, many people learned about the benefits of adding plants to your indoor environment at home and work. This isn’t a news flash for our regular readers. Study after study confirms plants help clean your indoor air of toxins, raise the humidity to healthier levels, contribute to an increase in oxygen levels, buffer noise, calm your nerves and help you focus. We’ll stop there. Good Earth Plant Company works with many clients who like fresh cut flowers in addition to green indoor plants in their workspaces. Who isn’t impressed by a gorgeous display of flowers in a lobby or meeting room?… Read More