CHRISTMAS TREES: PRO VS CON

Now that Thanksgiving has passed the next big holiday is Christmas. It's a tradition to have a pine tree during the holiday, but a lot of people are sometimes stuck between getting an artificial one or a live one since there are so many benefits to both. So we wanted to make that easier for you by making a quick pro's and cons list. 

LIVE 

PROS: pine tree scent,  lots of different kinds to choose from, traditional choice, provides jobs for farmers and markets, and it provides fresh air for your home. 

CONS: makes a mess by shedding a lot of needles, constant maintenance, transporting the tree is a bit difficult, you have to get rid of it after use.

ARTIFICIAL 

PROS: can be already pre lit, doesn't make a mess, many selections to choose from, can be easily stored, and you can leave it up as long as you'd like.

CONS: can look phony and or synthetic, you have to make space for it in storage. 

Whichever tree you pick be it alive or real just make sure it the best option for you and your home, if you wanted to know more information about christmas or about our pricing since we do offer artificial and real trees, feel free to contact us at www.environmental-designs.com 

ALL ABOUT POINSETTIAS

The holidays are upon us and that means that everyone is going to start to see a lot of poinsettias soon! Poinsettias are beautiful red flowers mainly used for christmas decorations and they come in a bunch of different colors too like white, pink, a red and white combo, and marble. 

How To Care For : POINTSETTIAS

• Make sure to not put your poinsettia in direct sunlight, it has to be placed in indirect sunlight in order to thrive throughout the holiday season.
• Don't push your poinsettia up against a wall or window because it can damage the leaves. 
• Make sure your poinsettia is kept moist, but don't let it sit in water because then it would get overwatered and start to die. 
• Lastly, make sure to keep your poinsettias in a cool environment to prolong it's longevity. 

Because pointsettias are so popular we always say to make sure to place an order a month before for your holiday plants. If you have any inquiries about poinsettias or want to place an order feel free to reach out to us at www.environmental-designs.com 

Fall Flowers for Arragments

I have to say fall flower arrangements are by far my favorite kind of arrangements. I love the colors scheme of orange, green, yellow and matching hues and the rustic feel to all the flowers. Today I'm going to write about my favorite flowers that I love to use in fall flower arrangements. 

Sunflowers: These are perfect for any autumn arrangement because its a nice bright  pop of color and matches well with the fall color scheme. Not only that but they are also at their best at the end of summer and the very beginning of fall. 

Wax Flowers: What I love about having wax flowers is that they come in different color variation and that they are a flowering shrub that has multiple blooms per stem; which makes it perfect as filler for your arrangement.

Dahlias: Dahlias are a year round flower and what makes them transitional throughout every season is that they come in many different colors and sizes. Go for a nice orange, dark red, soft pink, or even an ombre color and you'll be good to go for any fall arrangement. 

Silver Dollar Eucalyptus: I love the soft faded green color and the drape of the eucalyptus, and not only does it give off a pleasant smell but it also acts as a neutral for your fall color scheme. 

If your in need of a beautiful fall flower arrangements please feel free to contact us at www.environmental-designs.com

LANDSCAPING INSPO

Landscaping; as we all know can either make or break your home. If you have a nice landscape design the value of your home rises and if your landscape doesn't look so good then it naturally decreases. Not only that but having a nice landscape that's green and lush provides such a nice, warm, ambiance throughout your entire home and it preserves a natural feel. We put together some photos of some really unique, and creative landscape designs in order to inspire your for either your current landscape design or any other future endeavors. 

This design is one of our favorites! It also easily breaks up your yard as well, all you have to do is get  urn or an overturned pot and create a path using either flowers or rocks. 

This is also another creative pathway, we loved the use of wood instead of pavement, rocks or sand to create a path. It creates a very natural/woodsy kind of vibe to the entire yard. 

 

This is such a great idea! usually a patio set is strewn around the yard but this creative look has them in a circle in order to create a bit more of a hangout space. With a fire pit in the middle you can guarantee family and friends will have a great time. 

If you have any questions or ideas on creating a beautiful landscape please feel free to reach out to us at www.environmental-designs.com we would love to work with you to help achieve a beautiful space for you an your family.

XERISCAPING: SAVING WATER THROUGH CREATIVE LANDSCAPING

Currently California is dealing with an extreme water drought, but that doesn't mean that your house can't have some pretty and creative landscaping. Xeriscaping is a landscaping method developed especially for arid and semiarid climates that utilizes water-conserving techniques (as the use of drought-tolerant plants, mulch, and efficient irrigation)

There are so many benefits when having xeriscaping done to your home. Not only is it pretty to look at but it also increases the value of your home which more than offsets the cost of the installation. 

Another added benefit is that it really does help conserve water. Usually for most of North America, over 50% of residential water used is applied to landscape and lawns. Xeriscape can reduce landscape water use by 50 - 75%. Since water is minimal when you xeriscape that means that the maintenance of it is also really low.

Another thing that is really great about xeriscaping is that its completely pollution free. Fossil fuel consumption from gas mowers is minimized or eliminated with minimal turf areas. Small turf areas can be maintained with a reel mower. Reel mowers are also relatively affordably priced and are gas free so no fumes or gas will be used when maintaining your xeriscaping. We hope that this post is helpful in deciding if xeriscaping is the best option for you and your home. Feel free to contact us if you are looking for a quote for your home or business at www.environmental-designs.com 

WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE PLANTS IN YOUR OFFICE

As we all know plants are amazing, but why do we need them in an office space? well not only to improve air quality by cleaning the air and improving your health. There are also many other benefits that plants provide to an office space.  

Having plants in your office can help reduce stress. In a study done by Helen Russell at Surrey University she noticed the difference between the participants taking a difficult test in a heavy plant room and in a non-plant room. She studied the differences between their skin conductivity, heart rate and blood pressure. The participants in the heavy plant room seemed to have recovered from the stress easier and the skin conductivity showed the greatest difference between the group exposed to office plants and those who took the test plant-free. 

  

Did you know that plants also increase productivity? well its true in another study published in the “Journal of Environmental Horticulture,” researchers from Washington State University reported that live interior plants helped workers complete tasks with more focus and efficiency. The study asked workers to complete a simple task on a computer in a room with plants and compared their performance with workers who completed the same task in the same room without plants. They noticed that productivity increased by 12% in the presence of plants and 10% of the participants also noticed that they felt more attentive after the task than those tested without plants.

Not only do plants do all of these amazing things they also provide a general warmth and comfort to a room. The recommended humidity range for human health and comfort is between 30 and 60 percent, but many offices fall short of these figures, especially in the summer and winter months. In another study done by Washington State University Findings show that when plants were added to a room, the relative humidity rose significantly, but not too much. Humidity without plants averaged 25 percent, and with plants it averaged 30 percent – bringing the room into the ideal comfort range. 

We hope this post helps you in your decision about office plants and teaches you about all the benefits of having plants in your office such as air quality improvement, stress reduction, and an increase in productivity. If you want to have a design/walkthrough set up for some plants in your office please feel free to contact us on at http://www.environmental-designs.com

use plants to bring life - Douglas Wilson 

Beach House Install

We recently just did an install at a beautiful beach house and the interior designer was left in awe. We installed several big green plants, a live wall and a beautiful orchid arrangement. 

The live wall holds 36 6" plants consisting of Pothos, Dracena warneki lemon lime and red Bromeliad neoregelia. The design was simple but striking because you can see the different colors all meshed together and it makes a beautiful portrait. 

This is a Marginata stump, it's very modern and is wide enough to really fill up the space.

This is a Ming Aralia, it does well with a lot of light and not only does it look like parsley it also smells like it. It's a very modern plant and it's really easy to take care of.

This is a Sanseveria black coral, its a common house plant that is really beautiful and easy to take care of as well. If you need a plant designer to come in and give you some idea for plants for your home you can reach us at www.environmental-designs.com

Hanging Plants + Live Wall

Last week we did one of most fun projects ever which we're invited by Midici to do a hanging plant installation and a live wall. As you can see the hanging plants were perfect to frame the Midici logo and take up a lot of blank space. The hanging plants themselves were faux so it doesn't require any watering.

Installing the live wall was a lot of fun because we got to play around with a few designs before we settled on one arrangement. What the live wall consists of is Dracena Warneckii, Dracena Warneckii Lemon Lime and finally Pothos to give it an ombre of green effect. 

If you need someone to install a live wall or have any more creative ideas then please reach out to us at http://www.environmental-designs.com/