If you’ve struggled to find the best plants for an office with no windows, you’ve discovered the right place! Every plant we’ve included on this list can thrive without natural sunlight. As a writer that works from home, I have to be creative with my workspace, which means I frequently have cramped offices in spare closets, the garage, and the attic.
The common missing theme for each work environment was no windows or other natural or bright lighting sources. So, to make things feel more professional and inviting, I discovered the power of low-light plants for rooms without windows.
Being trapped in a windowless room for hours can feel stifling and damage your energy levels. Bringing in the outdoors, like potted plants, can make you feel rejuvenated and relaxed while stuck in a space without natural lighting or fresh air. You can’t go wrong with the humble Snake plant, that would be my top recommendation. Additionally, the Peace lily can bring a sense of zen to your windowless room.
There are dozens of plants that can tolerate low to no natural lighting. Add one or several of these hardy, earthy greenery specimens to your no-window office to create a more homey, natural nuance that can make the long hours at work feel less draining and miserable.
My list of the nine best plants for an office with no windows are:
- Best Overall: Snake Plant
- Best Desktop Plant: ZZ Plant
- Most Popular: Peace Lily
- Best Hanging: Spider Plant
- Best Patterned Leaves: Gold Dust
- Top Choice for Thriving in Fluorescent Lighting: Bromeliad
- Least Maintenance: Succulents
- Most Durable: Cast Iron Plant
- Thrives in Any Light: Pothos
Intrigued about these office plants with no light needs? First, check out my top nine low-lighting plant recommendations. And then, continue reading for the detailed buyer’s guide for five tips to use that will help you identify all the shopping criteria for picking the perfect plant for an office without windows.
Product Reviews
Best Overall Plant: Snake Plant
Credit: Leon and George
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Snake plants, also called mother-in-law’s tongues, are among the most popular office plants for spaces without windows or other natural light sources.
The name comes from the plant’s distinctive look, with long upright flat tongue-shaped leaves that look like a snake-printed pattern outlined with bright yellow edges.
Besides the distinctive look, Snake plants are popular office plants because they don’t need any attention. But, unfortunately, there’s a significant risk of causing these plants to rot if you water them too often, making them superb as a source of low-maintenance greenery.
Key Features:
- Species: Dracaena Trifasciata
- Growth: 24” to 40” tall
- Colors: white flower with glossy green leaves
- Flowering: yes
- Care needs: Minimal
Best Desktop Plant: ZZ Plant
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Zamioculcas zamiifolia – affectionately known as ZZ for short – is a fabulous windowless office plant to keep on your desk as they grow in all lighting, including artificial. However, they have slow growth and do not get very tall.
They have stunning dark green smooth waxless leaves with a glossy look that can reflect light, making this plant perfect for dark offices that need brightening up. And this plant isn’t only for looks. It can also purify the air, making your indoor office fresh and clean.
In terms of maintenance, the ZZ plant doesn’t require much attention. If you pick the right pot that allows for well-draining soil that you keep fertile, there’s no work to do except random waterings when the soil dries out.
Key Features:
- Species: Zamioculcas zamiifolia
- Growth: up to 3” tall and wide
- Colors: vibrant dark green glossy leaves
- Flowering: no
- Care needs: Minimal
Who Is It For?
The ZZ plant can be the perfect decorative, yet functional plant to use in dark, windowless offices that need brightening up for people who have breathing sensitivities and need purified air. But it should not be used in spaces with small children or pets, as the plant is toxic.
Most Popular: Peace Lily
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Few flowering plants are as popular for windowless offices as the peace lily. These flowering plants do amazing in offices that don’t have windows. And as an added benefit, they can purify the air, keeping your office clean and healthy.
You can use peace lilies to keep your air fresh – an asset since windowless offices can develop stale air. And they have minimal care needs, with weekly watering and an occasional leaf spritz during warm conditions like the summer.
But the peace lily can also provide an increased visual aesthetic due to the dark green leaves and single white hooded flower extending above the plant, potentially growing up to 40” tall. These flowers don’t form if there’s too much lighting.
Key Features:
- Species: Spathiphyllum
- Growth: 24” to 40” tall
- Colors: white flower with glossy green leaves
- Flowering: yes
- Care needs: Minimal
Who Is It For?
Peace lilies can be an awesome windowless office plant for people with allergies, sensitivities to pollen and dust, or breathing conditions like asthma since they purify the air. It can also present a soft, feminine feel.
Best Hanging: Spider Plant
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Spider plants are great hanging plants to use for offices with no windows. These plants do well without sun and can make a suitable choice for the corner of your desk, a table, or hanging in baskets suspended in the air.
If left to grow untamed, Spider plants produce long tendril foliage that can spill over the side of their container and cascade down in waves of green. The leaves develop a pronounced striped pattern with bright, indirect, or artificial light.
Keeping a saucer or water tray beneath the pot is important to capture draining water. Spider plants are vulnerable to rot if left too wet, so picking a well-draining pot is crucial.
Key Features:
- Species: Chlorophytum Comosum
- Growth: 24 inches with 8 to 18 inches long, 0.2 to 1 inch wide, narrow leaves
- Colors: green striped leaf tendrils that hang down
- Flowering: no, but it can propagate transplantable small Spider plants
- Care needs: Minimal with good drainage and infrequent waterings
Who Is It For?
The Spider plant can be for anyone looking for a fast-growing hanging plant that thrives in windowless office conditions and frequent neglect.
Best Patterned Leaves: Gold Dust
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Gold dust perennial shrubs can make an excellent windowless office companion. They demand admiration from the two to three-foot height and three to four-foot width to the stunning unusual broad leathery green leaves beautifully patterned with white, yellow, and gold speckles.
One of the best features of this plant is its impressively long lifecycle, taking an excruciating 20 years to reach maturity – if given the proper growing conditions.
This plant also has the potential to produce tiny maroon or purple flowers with white anthers. But that is uncommon when growing in low-lighting, windowless offices. Watering needs depend on the plant’s maturity. Fully mature plants need one watering every few weeks, while new plants can require weekly waterings, if not twice a week, during the first growing season.
Key Features:
- Species: Aucuba japonica
- Growth: two to three feet tall and three to four feet wide
- Colors: evergreen with yellow, white, and gold speckles
- Flowering: yes, but unlikely indoors
- Care needs: Varies by plant maturity
The Gold Dust plant can be an ideal office companion for anyone who enjoys patterned foliage and doesn’t mind having to show your plant the occasional care and attention.
Top Choice for Thriving in Fluorescent Lighting: Bromeliad
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The Bromeliad flower is the perfect addition to offices where you want to introduce tropical colors into the decor. Over 1,500 varieties are growing as tall, moderate, or small. Most offices will have a medium to small size Bromeliad. These plants must have a source of artificial light when grown in offices without windows.
These attractive plants have long leaves that can be solid green or variegated colors. But the most stunning feature is the inner bracts, which are usually a beautiful, vibrant color.
In exchange for blessing your windowless office with stunning color, these plants require diluted low-nitrogen fertilizer, a planting medium of peat and sand, and relative humidity between 40 and 60 percent. They also need warmer temperatures of 70 to 90 degrees F (21 to 32 degrees C).
Key Features:
- Species: Bromeliaceae
- Growth: moderate (3 feet tall and 2 feet wide) or small (2 to 20 inches tall)
- Colors: sword-shaped green leaves with multicolored inner organs
- Flowering: once, towards the end of the lifecycle
- Care needs: Minimal and can grow as epiphytic – attached to other plants
Who Is It For?
Bromeliad plants are the answer for a colorful tropical plant that can grow in low-lighting rooms like offices without windows.
Least Maintenance: Succulents
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Succulents are a popular choice of no-maintenance plants that don’t need natural light to survive. But there are dozens of succulent types, and you should use care when picking one for an office without windows, as some plants require bright sunlight.
The best plants that grow in fluorescent light in windowless offices include succulents like aloe (a beneficial medicinal plant), Haworthias, Burro’s Tail, Snake Plant (#1 on our list), the elegant String of Pearls, or the Panda plant.
Besides thriving in low or artificial fluorescent lighting, many succulents also have minimal needs for water, repotting, fertilizing, or pruning. These can be a set it and forget plant that only requires water once or twice a month because they store water in their fleshy leaves.
Key Features:
- Species: many different types
- Growth: ranges from a few inches to several feet
- Colors: vary, with most having light or dark green fleshy foliage
- Flowering: some classes have the potential
- Care needs: Little to no efforts besides infrequent waterings once a month or as needed
Who Is It For?
The succulent plant classification is the best choice for anyone who needs a hardy, minimal to no-effort plant that you can put into a low-lit office and not have to remember to check frequently. You can find a succulent species with many types to choose from that looks and acts however you want.
Most Durable: Cast Iron Plant
Credit: Leon and George
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Although known by several other names, everyone agrees the Cast Iron plant is a hardy plant to use in an office without windows, as this species loves artificial lighting.
This minimal needs plant can add major visual appeal to your office from the arching, glossy dark green lanced leaves that grow long and arch up to 4 inches wide and 2 feet long.
You can get the beauty without requiring a lot of attention. They rarely want water – only when the soil dries out – and have a slow growth that won’t need pruning or transplanting. And if a solid leaf color isn’t what you’re after, you can also get speckled or striped leaf types.
Key Features:
- Species: Monrovia
- Growth: 12 inches to 20 in height, with long arching leaves that can grow two feet long and four inches wide
- Colors: rich dark green foliage
- Flowering: no
- Care needs: Minimal besides infrequent watering
Who Is It For?
The Cast Iron plant can be a windowless office plant for anyone who worries about how a plant would do with frequent neglect and little attention. But, as the name implies, this durable plant can be hard to kill.
Thrives in Any Light: Pothos
Credit: Leon and George
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Pothos plants are the most common house or office plant choice for beginner gardeners. This plant is forgiving if you neglect it for several days without watering. And they don’t care if the lighting in your office is low or artificial.
These plants have fast trailing vine growth, another reason they are a popular choice for windowless offices. They can add 12 to 18 inches a month to their long vines, heavily packed with heart-shaped green leaves; sometimes, there are pale green, yellow, or white variations.
Very rarely, you can get Pothos to flower. But it’s best not to expect that to happen if your plant is growing in low lighting with little effort or input from you.
Key Features:
- Species: Epipremnum aureum
- Growth: 3 to six feet wide and 20 to 40 feet long
- Colors: heart-shaped green leaves that can become multicolored with yellow, white, and gold
- Flowering: no, but it can propagate transplantable babies
- Care needs Waterings as needed. Pruning if you want to control the rapid growth
Who Is It For?
Pothos plants can be the right pick for windowless offices if you want a plant that can grow fast and large. The long drooping vine growth makes these plants best for suspending in the air or mounted on the wall off the ground. But you will want to trim the foliage if you don’t want the plant growth to get out of control. And this plant shouldn’t be used in offices with cats or dogs, as all of it is toxic.
Buying Guide
Tips for Picking the Proper Plant for Windowless Offices
Use these five tips when you’re shopping for a plant to put inside your windowless office. Paying attention to these criteria can give you a plant that lives and thrives for years to give your office a more relaxing nuance for a less stressful work day.
#1 Care Needs
One of the first things you should consider when picking a plant for an office with no windows is how much time you have to devote to the care of your plant.
If you’re rarely going to be in your office, don’t choose a plant that needs daily care. And if you don’t want to provide regular maintenance, like frequent waterings, pruning, and fertilizer, pick a low-maintenance plant that’s okay with neglect and has a slow growth rate.
#2 Plant Size
You’ll also want to consider the size of the plant you’re thinking of getting. Compare how the plant would fit into the size of your office, not just in its current growing state but also once it reaches full maturity.
If you have a small, compact office, skip large plants that need a large pot that takes up valuable room on the floor and think vertical. Hanging plants or climbing vines can be superb choices. You can mount a pot to the wall and add a structure that lets your plant create a live fence.
#3 Plant Types
Plants fall into different classifications based on their native climate and growing needs. Therefore, the type of plant can affect which species you choose for your windowless office.
Tropical plants require different needs than succulents, evergreens, vines, epiphytic, or trees. Understand your plant type and how that will determine the plant growth and care, so you get an option that meets your office needs.
#4 Health Issues
Some plants produce strong aromas, pollen, or spores that can upset people with allergies or asthma. If you have health issues, you’ll want to consider the plant type, growth and reproduction habits, and if the plant produces flowers.
You’ll also want to determine if the plant you’re considering needs special treatment, like using fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Many of these products will have a strong chemical smell that can become overpowering in a small, closed-off office when there are no windows to air the room out.
#5 Potting Needs
Another criterion to consider when picking a plant for an office without windows is the type of pot needed. Species like the spider plant (otherwise known as hen and chicks) have dangling leaves that fall over the sides of pots.
Flowers with long, flowing foliage and fast growth do best in pots that hang up. These pots give the leaves room to droop. But you’d have to find a way to suspend the pot in the air from a frame or the ceiling.
If you want a plant that you can leave on your desk, you’ll likely want a slower-growing one that stays contained within its pot.
FAQ
What plant is good for an office with no windows?
Any of the nine plants (plus the many species that fall under each category) on this informative list of the best plants for windowless offices will meet your growing needs. So you can enjoy having the outdoors inside without worrying about your plants not having enough light.
What plants can grow with zero sunlight?
Several of the plants on this list can grow with no light, although a few will thrive with the light provided by your office or fluorescents. Three top plants that can grow without any lighting are the snake, Pothos, and the spider.
Can plants live in an office without windows?
While many plants require windows to get the necessary amount of daily average sunlight, plenty of plants can grow without light from windows. Depending on your chosen plan, you might have to supplement this lighting with fluorescents or grow lights. Focus on these nine low-maintenance low-light need plants to use for your office without windows.
The Bottom Line
You can still enjoy the refreshing, energetic vibe that comes with bringing nature indoors in an office that doesn’t have windows. Start by considering your plant needs with the five criteria in the buyer’s guide.
And then, choose your favorite plant for offices with no windows from my list of the nine best plants for offices with no windows. I have several species in my enclosed, windowless home office (closet).
My favorite picks are any succulents – I’ve got an aloe plant (great for treating burns and cuts), a snake plant, and three small cactus plants around my desk. My Pothos plant is the most forgiving and sweet, never minding when I miss a watering – or three.
I have experienced some issues with my Bromeliad, but that could be because I didn’t realize it was an epiphytic plant when I got it and had it growing all alone. It’s now happily joined with my moth orchid and thriving with vibrant multicolored beauty that frequently distracts me from my daily tasks. So if I’m not gawking over the Bromeliad, I’m fawning over the beauty of my Peace Lily.
Like What You Read and Want to Discuss More?
Do you grow one of these plants in your office? Or do you have success with a plant we didn’t include? Let us know your thoughts and feedback – here. We love to talk about plants! Looking for more leafy inspiration?
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