Top 4 Plants To Spruce Up Your Office
Did you know that the presence of plants can increase your productivity? A 2010 study showed significant reductions in reported anxiety, fatigue, hostility and other negative emotions all too familiar during the workweek. Another study indicated that one houseplant per meter of space was enough to boost productivity by an average of 15% while improving memory retention and test scores. And even if you don’t believe in their stress-reducing and
productivity-boosting benefits, there is no debating their beauty when placed around the office. Here are four that make great choices and aren’t too difficult to maintain.
Did you know that the presence of plants can increase your productivity? A 2010 study showed significant reductions in reported anxiety, fatigue, hostility and other negative emotions all too familiar during the workweek. Another study indicated that one houseplant per meter of space was enough to boost productivity by an average of 15% while improving memory retention and test scores.
And even if you don’t believe in their stress-reducing and productivity-boosting benefits, there is no debating their beauty when placed around the office. Here are four that make great choices and aren’t too difficult to maintain.
Pothos
Pothos is one of the most common choices of plants for commercial or home offices. And for good reason: it has earned a reputation for being “hard to kill.” This is exactly what you want when it’s in a room where priorities can quickly shift and distractions can keep your attention away from plant care for extended periods.
One of the main reasons Pothos is so durable is that it is actually a type of vine. Typically, they are kept relatively short when placed indoors but are easily capable of growing 20 to 30 feet in length. If this sounds more your style, you can attach a path of hooks along your wall to hang the vine over. For a more buttoned-down look, simply go with a standard pot that matches your office decor and keep the plant pruned down to a manageable length.
Pothos is notable for its ability to purify the air of synthetic pollutants as well as natural mold spores from water damage. This means there could be some health benefits to adding this plant to your desk and anywhere it fits.
Since Pothos is so hardy, maintenance mostly consists of making sure the plant has sufficient indirect light and occasional watering – but only when the soil has completely dried out. If you aren’t too confident in your plant-cultivating skills, go ahead give pothos a try!
Oxalis
Hailing from the sorrel family of flower plants, oxalis is a beautiful shamrock-like plant also known as the wood sorrel. It has been dubbed a “false shamrock” because despite its resemblance, it isn’t part of the shamrock family.
Despite its ability to produce beautiful flowers, Oxalis outdoors is often considered a weed. This might be good news if you don’t consider yourself a green thumb. How about you try growing a weed then?
Perfect as an addition for commercial offices or modern-themed bathrooms in professional environments, oxalis triangularis is particularly recommended as it has uniquely triangular leaves which present a geometrically pleasing profile. Oxalis triangularis is also known as purple shamrock due to the deep purple color which makes it a great way to add some variety to your collection.
Oxalis tends to like moist soil that drains well and is slightly acidity. It tends to like it’s shade as long as it gets a few hours of sunlight at some point in the day. This makes it perfect for an indoor office plant – place it where a window will cast some nourishing light on it’s shamrock-like leaves in the morning and then let it enjoy the shade in the afternoon.
Prickly Pear Cactus
Prickly pear is a common type of cactus with over forty species throughout the US. They grow a fruit which makes for a tasty snack or ingredient for beverages in the American Southwest and Mexico.
Prickly pear can survive in a variety of temperatures, both blazing hot and chilly. It’s club-like pads provide a unique geometry to any office that distinguishes itself from more common houseplants. For indoor growing, you may want to opt for the short and squat golden beavertail or bunny ear varieties.
Prickly pear will require more sunlight than your other plants, meaning you will have to place it accordingly. As you might expect, prickly pear won’t need much watering. In fact, you risk damaging the plant by adding too much if you’re not careful. Choose well-draining soil and simply moisten it every few weeks.
Tillandsia (Air Plants)
Air plants are an extremely easy to care for plant that has some unique properties. When it comes to versatility, nothing can match tillandsia’s ability to live without soil. And yes, you heard that right: it lives without soil. This attribute gives you a lot of options for displaying your air plants. They are often “mounted” to driftwood or wooden plaques simply by hot gluing the roots to the surface. It may sound like a rough life for a plant, but air plants are as hearty as they come and are actually quite at home living like this. As an epiphyte, tillandsia’s natural way of living is by attaching itself to the surface of other plants and then deriving its nutrients from.
Because of their unique properties, air plants provide a lot of options for placement. One of the most popular ways of growing them is by keeping them in hanging transparent globes. But if that’s too modern for your office, you can “mount” them to wood
Air plants Maintenance of Tillandsia is fairly simple. Tillandsia starts to turn silver when it needs more water. Mist it and occasionally dunk it in water until it’s green again. They will do especially well in high humidity environments.
Whatever plants you decide to put in your workspace, they should be easy to maintain. You don’t want to spend ages having to feed, water and prune your plants when you should be working! The plants listed above are all relatively low maintenance so you should be able to brighten up your workspaces without having to spend too much time looking after your plants.
