Improve your home office with plants

It’s been demonstrated in multiple studies, by impressive people with degrees and clipboards, that having plants around you, whether in your office or home office, can make you more productive and less stressed. So why wouldn’t you cover your home office in green? Here’s how to do it.

Whenever you’re choosing plants, the first thing to do is make sure you’re choosing the right plants for your light. 

If your desk is in a low-light part of the room, i.e. not next to a window, you’ll want plants that are happy in shade, e.g. snake plants, zz plants, ferns.

If your desk is next to a window, you’ll have plenty of light and can choose pretty much any plant you like. 

We’re not necessarily suggesting you talk to plants in place of co-workers, but a plant or two on your desk can make it feel a lot cheerier.

If space is tight, go for one really interesting plant. Something like Bali the schefflera or Petra the fern, which are both grown on lava. That not only makes them look sculptural, it makes them easy to water - just keep the tray topped up with water. 

If you’ve got a big desk, spread plants around to fill your eye-line with green. Use different sizes and leaf shapes. Just make sure to leave space for your laptop.

You can have more attention-seeking plants on your desk, if that’s what you want, but it’s simplest to choose ones that need only occasional watering. Then you can keep your mind on your work.

Plants like cacti, snake plants or lovely trailing pothos are good choices. 

A home workspace is often part of a room, rather than an entire room to itself. You can make your home office area feel like a defined space by using large plants as focal points.

A tall corn plant or a fiddle leaf fig can draw attention to your greenery rather than your desk.

If you’re really strapped for desk or floor space, embrace hanging plants.

Suspending a plant from the ceiling or putting it on a shelf keeps you surrounded by green without using any valuable surface space.

Little tip: before you water your plants, take your laptop or computer off the desk. Accidentally tipping water on your work computer is not calming.