plantscaping

Nature Naturally Leads 2021 Top Design Trends

Our project for Deloitte features indoor plants as design elements. Photo: Jim Mumford
Nature lets us know it’s the start of a new year, even without a paper calendar. Our journey toward spring begins as the days slowly grow longer and warmer, although it’s a pretty subtle change at our home base in San Diego. It only makes you look a little harder and become more aware. It also means it’s time for the Eco Warriors at Good Earth Plant Company to predict the 2021 top trends in plant styling and biophilic design trends for the year ahead. But this year isn’t like any other year. We are still reeling from a year like no other we’ve experienced going into our 44th (WOW!)… Read More

Chilling Out With Your Container Plants This Winter

It's a good idea to bring your tropical container plants inside when temperatures drop. Photo: Cottonbro / Pexels
In some parts of the country like San Diego, the transition from summer to fall to winter is subtle. There are no obvious signs like colorful fall leaves – unless you take the time to look. Liquid Ambar trees are starting to turn red, and both sycamores and cottonwoods in the valleys and canyons are turning yellow right now. But you can still feel the steeper temperature drops from daytime highs to nighttime lows and the steady cooling trend. Your container plants living outside feel it too. Some of them need protection from the coldest winter weather. In San Diego County, we have four climate zones – coastal, inland, mountains, and desert.… Read More

Resimercial Movement: Real and Here to Stay

The resimercial workplace of the future is likely to look more like this than the open office or cubicle farm. Photo: Iva Balk/Pixabay
I have always wanted to start a blog post this way. “Don’t you hate it when…” Don’t you hate it when people smash two words together to make another new word? It’s lazy. The words are always awkward. Athleisure. Brangelina. Resimercial. You probably know the first two words, but I bet “resimercial” is new to you. Resimercial is catching hold and it looks like it’s going to stick just like athleisure for a lot of the same reasons. It’s comfortable, and it fits. FYI: for those who don’t know it, “athleisure” is traditional athletic clothing like yoga pants which are now acceptable leisure wear.… Read More

Fall Pruning Tips for Your Indoor Plants

Help your plants stay healthy and grow strong with timely fall pruning. Photo: Epsita M / Pexels plant pruning tips
You sure can’t tell by the San Diego weather, but fall 2020 is in full swing. You might not be feeling it, but Nature knows. Even your indoor plants know it’s fall. They also know winter is coming. Your indoor plants have been busy all spring and summer using the sun’s energy along with your regular care and watering to focus on healthy growth. Now they’ll be ready to settle in for the winter and rest. To preserve your good health, you visit your doctor every year to get a checkup. It helps you catch any health problems early so they’re easier to treat.… Read More

Party With Plants! – National Indoor Plant Week

My plant friends and I are ready to live it up for National Indoor Plant Week! Photo: Jim Mumford
It’s officially National Indoor Plant Week. Yes, it’s a real thing! It’s right up there with Naked Outdoor Gardening Day in May. It is celebrated the third week of September every year. This is one holiday COVID-19 can’t ruin for us. Your indoor plants deserve a celebration. They’ve kept you happier and healthier during the pandemic. You don’t have to worry about social distancing with your indoor plants. You can gather and party all you want, no masks required! To Good Earth Plant Company, 2020 has been National Indoor Plant YEAR. People have purchased plants in record numbers. Nurseries and garden centers remained open as essential businesses.… Read More

#StayPlanted with Purpose

Our donated plants find new homes with the new residents of the Alpha Project's brand new residence in Imperial Beach. #StayPlanted
This week, Good Earth Plant Company worked on one of its favorite assignments for the Alpha Project. A brand new Alpha Project homeless shelter opened in a completely renovated hotel in Imperial Beach.  It’s a safe and secure place focusing on housing families.  We provided a little extra plant love to warm up the new residences. We donated some of our client plant returns for common areas and hallways, and anywhere else Alpha Project wanted to put them. It gives us joy on so many levels. We re-home these plants where they can find a new purpose. It’s like adopting a new pet from a shelter.… Read More

How to Water Your Plants Using Sub-Irrigation

Good Earth Plant Company’s advice on how to water your indoor plants hit pay dirt! Many of you read, commented, and shared the advice in our blog post last week. We are happy to help and thank you for passing our blogs on to your friends and family. The watering tips and methods we discussed all involve surface irrigation. Surface irrigation is any watering technique adding water to the soil from above the plant. Rain provides surface irrigation. But there’s one more way to water your container plants – so call this part three of our series about watering your plants.… Read More

Basic Watering Guide From Our Plant Stylists

Good Earth Plant Company's plant stylists get asked about watering more than any other topic. Photo: Torsten Dettlaff/Pexels
In last week’s blog post, we shared tips from the Good Earth Plant Company experience on whether your plants like a drink of something other than water. Readers told us they enjoyed it – and then said “But we could really use more advice about watering our indoor plants.” If there is one thing we have heard over more than 40 years as plant stylists and indoor plant technicians, it’s this. People still aren’t sure how to water their plants. Proper watering goes hand in hand with proper placement for successful indoor plants. With people spending more time inside due to the coronavirus pandemic, and more picking up plants (see below) to keep them company, we’re following up with Part 2 in our advice series.… Read More

Indoor Plants and Living Walls Are Essential Workers Too

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

Hot Tip: Add Humidity For A Healthier Office Space 

Could raising indoor air humidity by using plants help prevent the spread of COVID-19? Some scientists now think so. Photo: Daria Shevtsova / Pexels
Are you a little anxious about returning to the office? You aren’t alone.  Several polls show people worry about being exposed to the coronavirus when they go back to the workplace. Depending on the poll, 60 to 75 percent of people surveyed say they’re worried about this, and worried about being exposed by their co-workers. It’s enough to make a person want to work from home forever. But this isn’t always possible or even a good idea long term. We understand how much a healthy workspace can make a difference at Good Earth Plant Company. We have been working with clients to improve the health and wellbeing of their employees and visitors in all kinds of indoor spaces for more than four decades!… Read More