Your Summer Solstice Resolution: Get Outside

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | July 29, 2020 | Categories: Biophilia, Environment, Nature and Wellbeing

Longer hours of daylight and warmer weather naturally draw us outside more to enjoy it. We’ve been telling you for years this is a GOOD thing (with hats and sunscreen handy). So I had to laugh just a little when I read the Wall Street Journal this week. In an article on its Career and Leadership page, it featured a “new trend” for the coronavirus age: finding ways to hold work meetings in person by – meeting outside. News flash! The article reports workplaces setting up meetings in all kinds of outdoor spaces like parks, beaches, or even in private yards where social distancing and masks allow people to meet safely and get away from their screens and Zoom.… Read More

Indoor Plants and Living Walls Are Essential Workers Too

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | July 22, 2020 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Gardening, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping

Horticultural technician Sophie Gonzalez hard at work wearing the new custom mask she designed!

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, essential workers are those who conduct a range of operations and services that are typically “essential” to continue critical infrastructure operations. Critical infrastructure is a broad term including work sectors from energy to defense to agriculture. Most people think of law enforcement, firefighters, doctors and nurses, and other types of frontline first responders as essential workers. But hasn’t your definition changed over the past few months? I bet you’ll add grocery store workers, truck drivers, caregivers, and the people who make toilet paper to this list now. There are so many unsung heroes grinding away who make things work.… Read More

Tips for New Plant Parents

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | May 27, 2020 | Categories: Gardening, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping

Plenty of people have brought new plants home to keep them company during the pandemic shutdown. Photo: Valeria Ushakova / Pexels

First it was toilet paper and alcohol wipes. Then it was hair color, followed by flour and yeast. During the coronavirus pandemic, people cleared the shelves of basic items they were desperate to find. Next, it was things they needed to entertain themselves, Who knew there would be a rush on baking bread at home? In the third wave, people looked around at their homes which were now also their offices and their kids’ schools and realized something important was missing. House plants! They are flying off the shelves and out of the garden centers. The National Gardening Association is fielding half a million questions a week from gardeners.… Read More

Let’s Clear the Air

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | March 11, 2020 | Categories: Environment, Indoor Plants, Nature and Wellbeing, Plantscaping, Sustainable Living

In the plantscaping business, we've always been concerned about clean indoor enviroments. Photo: Mylene2401/Pixabay

Chances are good you’re spending a lot more time indoors right now. But here is the reality: it’s nothing new. Ongoing research by the Environmental Protection Agency reveals some shocking stats: Americans spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors. If you’re very young or older, you tend to spend even more time indoors. There are a lot of reasons people are anxious about health issues today. But some of us have been concerned for a long time. Here’s why: indoor air can be two to five times more polluted than our air outdoors. This comes as a surprise to many people.… Read More

Plant Styling with Indoor Trees

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | February 19, 2020 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping

Have you ever met a plant stylist? Good Earth Plant Company and other businesses like ours have helped bring nature into our clients’ environments with plants and the principles of biophilic design for many years through professional plant care for offices and homes. The term in our industry for decades has been “plantscaping,” but it can be a little hard to explain sometimes. Finally, I think we’ve found the right way to describe what we do: Plant Stylist! It’s getting attention thanks to this article in the New York Times last week. Lots of people get addicted to indoor plants with small, easy to grow desktop choices.… Read More

Indoor Plant Trends Coming At You In 2020

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | January 24, 2020 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Biophilic Design, Environment, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping

We love attending the Tropical Plants International Expo each January, and have lots of cool plant trends to share with you.

We all have our New Year traditions. Mine involves traveling across the country to join my Plantscaping industry colleagues from 45 states and 37 different countries at the Tropical Plants International Expo, AKA TPIE. It’s a blast for me to see all the new concepts and trends in indoor plant production, presentation, and design. There is so much to see, sometimes I worry whether my head might explode! (Spoiler – it didn’t happen). When you have been in business four decades, you see certain concepts and ideas recycled from time to time. We love seeing great old ideas reinvented. We also see the creative use of new technology and new designs.… Read More

Top Biophilic and Nature Design Trends for the Roaring 20s

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | January 8, 2020 | Categories: Biophilia, Biophilic Design, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Living Walls, Moss Walls, Sustainable Living

Pink flamingo lawn ornaments were invented in 1957. The first one had a name: Diego! Photo: Lena Svensson, Pixabay

The start of a new year would not exist the same way without the human creation of the calendar, but Nature would still let us know it’s the start of a new cycle as the days begin to slowly grow longer heading toward spring. We also feel these natural rhythms going into our 44th year in business (wow!) at Good Earth Plant Company. We look forward to seeing what’s new in our world, along with clever twists on old ideas, plus brand new concepts. We love recycling. Based on what we’re seeing and conversations with our colleagues and our customers, we’re looking forward to the following Top Plantscaping and natural design trends to start the decade of the Roaring 20s returned in 2020.… Read More

Good Earth Plants’ Top Ten Indoor Plant Care Myths

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | November 13, 2019 | Categories: Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Indoor Plants, Plantscaping

Unlike your indoor plants, some of these myths have been around a long time but they just won’t die. If you’re still thinking any of these plant care tips are true, we’re going to put a stake through them now and forever. Myth #1: Put your brand new plants in a bigger pot right away to encourage them to grow It seems like it would make sense. Giving a plant a chance to spread out its roots means it will grow bigger and faster, right? The truth is the opposite. Plants prefer having their roots completely filling out container space. When a plant senses it needs to fill out a bigger pot with new roots, it will divert its energy to the roots, not the stems, leaves, or blooms.… Read More

Don’t Hire Your Contractors Based on Fake News!

Gayle Lynn Falkenthal | November 6, 2019 | Categories: Architecture and Design, Case Studies, Good Earth Plant Company Tips, Plantscaping

Earlier this week, I found myself getting completely frustrated by a Facebook “friend” trying to back up a political opinion with some pretty suspicious “facts.” This person claimed all the sources were legitimate. But when I checked them out and dug a little, they were all sketchy. Then I compared them to my own independent research, and there was no doubt. Fake news. Yes, I know, as you’re reading this you’re thinking – “Hey Jim, don’t take stuff on Facebook so seriously.” I get it. But like it or not, people get most of their news and information online these days.… Read More

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indoor plants