Filling your workspace with the best office plants can have a real positive impact. By brightening up where you work and create, you'll feel energised, inspired and stress-free. In fact, buying a few plants for your office may be some of the best money you'll spend.
At CreativeBloq, we've spent years testing and using all manner of tools and gadgets to help find the best products to help creative professionals. And, while we mainly look at ways technology can help creatives, we know that the environment you live and work in is also incredibly important.
In this guide, you'll find our picks for the best office plants that will brighten up where you work, while also being relatively low-maintenance. That means you don't need to have particularly green fingers to keep these plants looking healthy and well. We've picked the best indoor plants for low light conditions, which makes them perfect for decorating your home office or studio, alongside the best desk lamps and best desk accessories. Also look at our guide to the best ergonomic office chairs if you're on a health binge.
The best office plants of 2023
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Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
This attractive plant is our pick as the best office plant overall. This is because it looks great, with a subtle touch of pink that brings color to any room you place it in. It also comes with a matching pot, and it's impressively easy to care for, so you can add it to your office or studio and not worry (too much) about keeping it alive.
Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
If you're after a budget office plant that looks nice and is easy to care for, then this is a great choice. With red, green and white touches to its foliage, it's a bright and colorful, and because it thrives in partial shade, it's a great indoor plant for having in a home office. You'll need a pot to put it in, but for the price, you're getting a lovely plant that will brighten up your office.
Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
This bird of paradise plant is native to South Africa, but thanks to its easy to care for and robust nature, it's just at home in an office or studio. This is a great office plant for placing on the floor, as it grows quite tall - and that means it won't take up valuable desk space. It's affordable and only requires moderate watering. It is sensitive to low temperatures, and while that means it's an ideal indoor plant, you'll need to bear that in mind when finding a room to place it in.
Moisture needs: Once a month
This gorgeous evergreen, also known as the Zanzibar Gem, is incredibly resilient, and is able to thrive in all kinds of conditions. This means that it's an ideal office plant - even for people who have no experience of looking after plants. It's pricey, but will last you a long time, and comes with an attractive ceramic pot with a water reservoir. Top it up once a month with water, and the plant will flourish.
Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
IKEA Polyscias is are assorted aralia plants that are ideal for offices. With bright, green leaves with hints of color, they are perfect for placing on the floor of an office or studio. They need light, but keep them out of direct sunlight, and while they only need moderate watering, you'll need to make sure it doesn't dry out, otherwise the leaves may turn brown and fall off.
Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
Just because you don't have a lot of space in your home office or studio doesn't mean you should miss out on being able to add a bit of greenery to where you work. This small, affordable and easy to care for bamboo plant can bring a bit of nature to even the smallest locations. It doesn't take much looking after, just keep it out of direct sunlight and water moderately. You'll need to buy a pot separately, however.
Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
Traditional Bonsai trees are excellent office plants as they look fantastic and are easy to care for - plus they don't take up much space. For this list, we've picked the Bonsai Zelkova by Thompson and Morgan, as it is an attractive tree that comes with a ceramic pot and saucer that compliments the plant really well.
Moisture needs: Moderate Watering
A mini olive tree, such as the one featured here, is a great way to add a touch of color - and a Mediterranean feel - to your office. While you shouldn't expect it to bear enough olives to fill a ramekin, it's easy to care for, can handle warm environments without wilting, and helps purify the air. It comes in an attractive wooden pot, so you can unpack it and place it in your office in a few moments.
Moisture needs: Water sparingly
This fast-growing, evergreen plant is ideal for offices. As a hanging plant, you can position it high up (from a shelf or hook) and bring a dramatic dash of green to your workspace. You only need to water these plants sparingly, and they come in a variety of types from IKEA, so you can mix and match to get the look you desire. They are affordable, and come with their own plastic hanging pot, so you can place them straight away.
What office plants don't die?
Some plants need a lot of care and attention to thrive, and that doesn't always make them the best office plants, as you'll understandably be working, and a dead or dying plant is more depressing than having no plants at all. Look for plants that don't need much watering - succulents and cacti are very hardy, for example. If you really have trouble looking after plants, you might be better off with a realistic artificial plant.
What are the most beautiful office plants?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so this is a question that depends on what sort of style you're going for. While it may be tempting to get something with gorgeous blossom or leaves, remember that these will fall, leaving a lot to clean up. An evergreen may not be so eye-catching, but the subtle colors will be less distracting, and they'll look great all year-round.
