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Improve your home office with plants

Plants in the workplace aren’t just there to look nice. They also improve your mood and increase productivity.

Desk in home office decorated with a Boston fern, snake plant, Chinese money plant, succulent and peace lily in a range of ceramic, concrete and clay pots.

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.

Choose the right plants for your light

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.

A small swiss cheese plant in a teracotta pot sits on a desk, next to a laptop
A small swiss cheese plant in a teracotta pot sits on a desk, next to a laptop
Schefflera on Lava, next to a desk lamp
Schefflera on Lava, next to a desk lamp

Opt for easy-care

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.

Use large plants around your desk

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.

A desk with a desktop Mac surrounded by large plants including a kentia palm
A desk with a desktop Mac surrounded by large plants including a kentia palm

Don’t forget hanging plants

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.

A spikey succulent in a clay pot hangs sits in a macrame plant hanger
A spikey succulent in a clay pot hangs sits in a macrame plant hanger

Water the plants, not your laptop

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.

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