Plants in offices – ideas for indoor plants in the workplace

The benefits of indoor plants in the office run deeper than just making the place look pretty. Some of the world’s biggest and most profitable companies are incorporating plants in offices in various forms, but smaller companies such as startups and SMEs are now getting involved, even with more limited space.

One of the first studies into the long-term effects of plants in offices in 2014 examined three office environments over several months and found that greenery significantly increased workplace satisfaction in employees, increased concentration levels, and improved perceived air quality. Essentially, employees are significantly more productive when surrounded by office plants.

Here are some ideas for businesses with small to medium-sized office space rentals that want to introduce some greenery to their workplace.

Plant pots

Plant pots are the simplest way of getting some greenery in. You could try smaller desktop plants or for something more striking, large freestanding pots with bigger plants look good and are more resilient than smaller and more delicate plants.

Vertical gardens

Vertical gardens, sometimes called living walls, are a good way to get plants in offices without taking up any space. You can do this with canvas vertical gardens, on ladder-style structures, tightly packed shelves, or some people even build them out of repurposed materials such as wooden pallets.

Hanging gardens

If you’re looking for something a little more straightforward but also a little unusual, hanging pots from the ceiling using either rope, chains, or macramé and a hook is fun and attractive without going overboard. Hanging them in windows can complement outside rural views and are easy to keep.

Plants in offices that are hard to kill

Needless to say, plants that need less water are going to be harder to kill and will survive short breaks such as Christmas and bank holiday weekends better. Pothos is also known as devil’s vine or devil’s ivy are probably the easiest of all houseplants to take care of and are a pretty trailing plant with heart-shaped leaves. Spider plants are also well-known and easy to keep plants that trail when reproducing.

Snake plants and aloe vera are more robust and spikey-looking plants that are hard to kill, as are dragon trees and the rounder-looking rubber plants. Cacti can survive deserts and so they can survive offices. If you want plants that don’t want any water at all, there are even air plants.