Whether you work from home or commute in, every office is prone to feeling a little bit gray – which is why I LOVE to liven up those spaces with a little bit of greenery. The houseplants in this article will be perfect for any type of office. I’ll give you my top choice for dark office spaces, small desk plants, window hanging plants and more!
My overall top choice for any office space is Sansevieria or the snake plant. It’s attractive, low maintenance and can live in almost any environment. They’re also affordable, easy to find and make a great office-warming gift.
Check Out My Top 9 Small Office Plants Here:
- Best Overall: Sansevieria
- Best Budget-Friendly: Golden Pothos
- Best to Share with Your Office Neighbours: Hedgehog Aloe
- Best Hanging Plant: Baltic Blue Pothos
- Best for Tiny Offices: Jade Plant
- Best for Dark Offices: Peace Lily
- Best Low-Maintenance: ZZ Plant
- Best for an Office-Warming Gift: Mini Money Tree
- Best Pet-Friendly Office Plant: Prayer Plant
Product Reviews
Best Overall Small Office Plant: Sansevieria
Highlights:
Sansevieria, or Snake Plants, are one of the most easy to care for, versatile plants on the market. You’ll hear them being recommended for all sorts of environments, and it’s no mystery why. Snake plants can thrive in almost any light environment; they prefer bright, indirect light but can tolerate full sun and low light. They are also remarkably drought-tolerant. So for this reason if you’re not in the office very often, or if you just forget to water your plants for example, no worries! The only upkeep it really needs is a gentle cleaning of the leaves every now and then to make sure they don’t get blocked up with dust.
Key Features:
- Size: 8-12 inches tall but can grow up to 8 feet tall indoors
- Life Span: On average, Sansevieria live up to ten years, but can live up to 25 with proper care
- Watering Needs: Minimal water, every two weeks approximately
- Light Needs: Can tolerate most light, bright indirect sunlight is best
- Difficulty Level: Easy care and suitable for beginners
- Pet Friendly: No
Who Is It For?
This plant is for everyone! I truly believe, no matter how much of a black thumb you have, you can keep a happy, healthy snake plant. It’s perfect for any office – so long as there’s no pets or babies around who might have a little nibble because snake plants are toxic. I would especially recommend this plant to any forgetful waterers, because you can only really kill a snake plant by over-caring for it! If you have any more questions, we have the answers when it comes to snake plant care!
Best Budget-Friendly Small Office Plant: Golden Pothos
Highlights:
The golden pothos is a lovely variety of pothos with a bit of extra interest and character coming from its gentle variegation on the leaves. You can grow golden pothos to climb or to trail, or keep it trimmed into a bushy shape. They look lovely on a bookshelf with the leaves trailing. This plant can tolerate low to moderate indirect light and doesn’t like to have wet feet, so let the soil dry out between waterings. A bonus from these plants is they are easy to trim and propagate, which you can display in glass vases to get more plants for your buck.
Key Features:
- Size: 5-8 inches tall but can reach 6-8 feet as a regular plant but if they are trailing or climbing they can reach 40 feet tall
- Life Span: On average pothos live 5-10 years indoors, but since they are so easy to propagate you can keep them much longer than that
- Watering Needs: Roughly once a week will do in the winter, and maybe twice a week in the summer, but it depends on the amount of light your plant gets
- Light Needs: Low to bright indirect, pretty happy anywhere
- Difficulty Level: Easy and suitable for beginners
- Pet Friendly: No
Who Is It For?
This plant is best for anyone who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money, but wants to make a big impact in their office. The plant can grow really quickly when well taken care of, meaning it can easily add a lot of beauty throughout the space. This plant can handle a little neglect so never fear if you’re new to the plant parent life, golden pothos are a great choice.
Best Plant For Sharing: Hedgehog Aloe
Highlights:
If you love your office buddies, or want to make a great impression, there’s no better way to do so than to give them a baby plant from your mature plant. It makes you look put together, responsible, and it’s a free gesture of kindness. The hedgehog Aloe is my top choice for this category because propagating and repotting it is a clean, quick, no-nonsense business. You don’t need any experience or equipment really to do so. The Aloe will grow pups, or little plantlets which you can literally just wriggle free gently and immediately pot up into their own container. Plants are one of the best gifts you can give, because they can bring calmness to any environment, helping to reduce the work-induced stress and aid in your productivity.
Key Features:
- Size: 10-16 inches tall, but it can grow up to 20 inches in maturity
- Life span: The hedgehog Aloe grows quite slowly, and when taken care of can live for over 40 years.
- Watering Needs: Once a month should suffice, always wait until the soil is completely dry and the leaves begin to look wrinkled before watering your succulents
- Light Needs: Bright indirect light is best, but it can handle some direct sunlight
- Difficulty Level: Super easy
- Pet Friendly: No
Who Is It For?
I would have to call this THE perfect plant for anyone moving into a new office for a whole host of reasons. It’s small and durable enough to withstand moving, so it’s no trouble at all. You can plant up the pups and give them to your office neighbors to get a few new work friends. Additionally you can go on your holidays and weekends without worrying about them, because they’re so drought resistant.
Find out how to care for Aloe plants.
Best Hanging Plant: Baltic Blue Pothos
Highlights:
The Baltic Blue Pothos is a gorgeous variety. It’s even on my personal wishlist, and it’s a unique choice that’s bound to be a little different from other plants you have. It can be hung up and grown to climb or trail or placed on any surface. The leaves start off as a dark green and mature into a blue-green tone. They like bright, indirect light so they’re suitable for most offices and most places within your office. This plant is available from Bloomscape with a pot, which comes in lots of different colors so you can find whichever suits your place the best.
Key Features:
- Size: 14 – 20 inches tall but can grow to be up to 10 – 12 feet tall indoors
- Life Span: Roughly between 5 and 10 years but you can propagate this plant indefinitely
- Watering Needs: Roughly once a week, depending on how much sun it gets
- Light Needs: Low to bright indirect light
- Difficulty Level: Easy and beginner friendly
- Pet Friendly: No, this plant is toxic
Who Is It For?
This Baltic Blue pothos is the best option for someone who doesn’t have a lot of room on any flat surface. Or alternatively has a nice window they want to highlight with a plant. It can hang or sit so if you move your plants around or change jobs there’s no stress! It’s also a great choice for people who love to propagate their plants since there’s lots of nodes which are super easy to find on pothos.
Best Plant for Tiny Offices: Jade Plant
Highlights:
Jade plants are one of the most popular succulents for all sorts of different environments. They’re nice and compact so even if you have a very small spot for a plant they can be a perfect fit. They are slow growing and long lasting, and also they require very little care. It’s important to wipe down and dust this plant every now and then, as any excess salts in the water will build up on the leaves in little white spots. The bright green leaves will sometimes develop deep red hues across the edges of the leaves, when grown in bright enough light. But no fear because jade plants are quite hardy and will survive in most environments.
Key Features:
- Size: 8 – 10 inches tall but it can grow up to 5 feet tall
- Life Span: between 50 and 70 years on average but can live up to 100 years
- Watering Needs: Once a month in colder weather, twice during warmer weather on average
- Light Needs: Bright indirect to direct light
- Difficulty Level: Super easy! Suitable for anyone
- Pet Friendly: No, jade plants are considered toxic
Who Is It For?
Jade Plants are perfect for anyone looking to bring green into their offices without sacrificing too much desk space. You can keep them super small by pruning the leaves and not upsizing their pots. This plant is great for people who have a lot of windows in their offices as well because they love sunlight!
Best Choice for Dark Office Spaces: Peace Lily
Highlights:
Peace lilies are another popular houseplant, which means they’re super easy to find in most houseplant shops or even just regular garden centers. They flower and produce lovely white blooms and can rebloom year after year if they are cared for properly. Peace lilies are vibrant additions to any room. They can in fact can tolerate low lighting conditions making them a great choice for when other plants would be unhappy in your office. The leaves of the lilies can grow very big, which can give the room a lovely jungle feeling. This plant symbolizes prosperity, purity, peace and sympathy. Plus, it’s super easy to care for!
Key Features:
- Size: 30 – 32 inches tall but you can grow them up to 60 inches tall indoors
- Life Span: On average peace lilies live around 3-5 years, but I’ve had mine for 6 and they’re known to live for two or more decades when loved and kept indoors
- Watering Needs: Peace lilies like to have consistently moist soil, but they’ll let you know when they need water, by drooping their stems and leaves. Water the plant when the top inch of soil is dry, roughly twice a week depending on the humidity and temperature in the office.
- Light Needs: Low to bright indirect
- Difficulty Level: Relatively easy and mostly low maintenance
- Pet Friendly: No, lilies of all types are toxic to pets
Who Is It For?
A peace lily is a lovely choice for all sorts of interior designs, they are quite versatile and can live in most types of environments. It’s perfect if you have a darker room and want to bring it to life a little bit with some greenery. Peace lilies are also a lovely plant for those who prefer flowers to houseplants since they bloom so nicely.
Best Low Maintenance Plant for Offices: ZZ Plant
Highlights:
The ZZ plant, (Zamioculcas Zamiifolia) or Zanzibar gem is a bit of an uncommon choice for people. However I think it’s underrated. ZZ plants are gorgeous, can grow quickly and require very little care, they’re practically impossible to kill. I genuinely keep mine in a room that has no windows and it is happy as ever! If you’ve killed every plant you’ve had, you must not have had a ZZ plant before. They’re super cool too, these plants grow tubers under the soil called rhizomes which can sprout new growth. There’s a variety of ZZ plants called the ZZ Raven, where the deep green leaves turn to black throughout their lifetime. This might be the plant for you if you’re looking for a low-maintenance plant that makes a big statement.
Key Features:
- Size: 12- 16 inches tall but these guys can grow up to 2 – 4 feet tall and wide, but they grow quite slowly and it’s easy to keep them the size you’d like
- Life Span: Typically ZZ plants will live 5 to 10 years or longer
- Watering Needs: ZZ plants can usually grow for 4 months with no water, as they store water. But it’s worth giving them a little check over once or twice a month and watering when the soil is dry and the stems look a little bit wrinkled.
- Light Needs: ZZ plants can thrive in low to bright indirect light
- Difficulty Level: As easy as it gets
- Pet Friendly: No, unfortunately ZZ plants are toxic and not pet-friendly
Who Is It For?
ZZ plants are nearly indestructible and therefore make the best plants for brand new plant owners or people who are busy and don’t have time for lots of watering and fertilizing. ZZ plants are pretty adaptable and can live in most environments. Therefore they are perfect for people who might be working in different offices more frequently as you can always bring this plant with you. Essentially, anyone looking for a plant to ignore and neglect, the ZZ is the one for you!
Best Office-Warming Plant: Mini Money Tree
Highlights:
This mini money tree is one of the sweetest gifts a person could hope to receive. I think it would be perfect for any office welcoming a new person in or for anyone looking to celebrate their friend’s new job. The money tree has a long history and represents wealth, prosperity and good luck -where the trunk of the tree is sometimes braided to catch the good luck. People also say that this plant helps to lower stress and anxiety. Perfect vibe to bring into the office. This mini option is a little more office friendly as some money trees can grow very large indoors, plus it’s just cute! The money tree is native to Mexico and the northern tip of South America and is very popular across the world.
Key Features:
- Size: 9-15 inches tall but it can grow up to 8 feet tall
- Life Span: Generally around 10-15 years but actually they can live much much longer. It is said that the longest living money tree survived over two decades.
- Watering Needs: Money trees are actually succulents, meaning they store water in their trunks. Therefore they only need watering around once a month, or every three weeks in the summer.
- Light Needs: Low to bright indirect
- Difficulty Level: Low fuss, super easy to care for and very beginner friendly
- Pet Friendly: Yes, this plant is non-toxic and pet friendly
Who Is It For?
This plant is the best option for anyone looking to bring a better sense of Feng Shui into their own space or wishing to give that energy to someone else. This plant is suited to most light conditions so you will be happy in any office and if your office has a pet (lucky you!) then this is a great choice. It is safe as a little snack for any curious animals you might have around.
Got one? Check out our ultimate tips on how to care for a money tree.
Best Pet Friendly Office Plant: Prayer Plant
Highlights:
Prayer plants are colorful, bold and exciting. But most importantly they are pet friendly! These days, lots of people work from home, or bring their pets to work so it’s pretty important for some people to find non-toxic plants to spruce up their offices. Prayer plants are an interesting choice, they bring movement and dimension into a space and are pretty easy to keep alive. They’re called prayer plants as they close each day as the night falls, exposing the red undersides of the leaves. They like a sunny spot, some moist soil and maybe humidity if you can, and they’ll be happy. These plants are also called Herringbone plants or Marantas.
Key Features:
- Size: 7 – 12 inches tall but they grow up to 12 inches tall and 18 inches wide. You can easily trim them to keep them as small or big as you want
- Life Span: Prayer plants tend to live for about 5 years when kept indoors, but it really depends
- Watering Needs: This plant needs watering roughly once a week or twice a week, they like consistently moist soil but take care not to overwater
- Light Needs: Low to bright indirect light
- Difficulty Level: Easy, with pretty low maintenance
- Pet Friendly: Yes! They’re totally pet friendly
Who Is It For?
Obviously this plant is the one for people who have any animals in their offices (or even very young children). Although the prayer plant is so much more than just the pet friendly choice. The maranta is a beautiful plant that can bring life and movement wherever it goes. It’s truly amazing watching the leaves move throughout the day and I just find this plant incredibly peaceful.
Office Plants Buying Guide: Top 3 Tips
#1 Consider the Size
Throughout this article, I have focused on small office plants, this is for a number of reasons. Smaller plants are more portable, also more affordable and naturally, take up much less space. You don’t want to get stuck in a situation where you’re going home for the holiday or the office is moving and you have to throw out a plant because it’s too hard to take with you. Small plants are often less maintenance, they don’t need as much pruning or dusting, which is great because the last thing you need when stressed about work is more on your to do list!
#2 Think About Which Pot You Want
When you buy your plants they often come in a simple plastic pot, called a nursery pot, which is meant to either be replaced or plant into an outer pot. You’ll need drainage however you choose to display your plant, but it’s also important to think about the furniture around the plant. If you buy a pot with drainage holes on the outside you’ll need to take it to a sink or shower to water them, which won’t always be possible in an office. So I would recommend buying either a terracotta pot with a drainage dish underneath, or an exterior pot with no drainage holes. You’ll just have to tip out any extra water. If your plant is going to live on a nice wooden shelf or something similar, you might want to consider some felt mats or protective underlay for the furniture.
#3 Factor In How Often You’re In The Office
There’s a good number of plants I very deliberately didn’t include in this list because of one thing; they’re very thirsty! Everyone’s schedules are very different. If you’re in the office most days you can have a plant that needs a little extra love but just don’t forget to consider this. If you’re only going into the office to work a few days a week you’ll want to opt for something that needs a little bit less watering so that it’ll be fine in between your office visits.
FAQs
Do plants improve air quality in the office?
There’s tons of research which suggests that regular house plants can make a significant difference in the quality of air inside. Snake plants, my number one choice for a small office plant are shown to be one of the most effective plants for reducing air pollution. Lots of offices have dry air full of toxins, just due to the lack of circulation and nature. Plants can help to remove and break down harmful compounds from the air and can boost the humidity levels. Increasing the humidity in the air helps to reduce the spread of viruses and allergens too.
Should I get a plant for my office?
Definitely, you should get at least one plant for your office. Not only do they purify the air, reducing air pollution but they also can increase creativity, reduce stress and boost your mood. There’s a lot of studies into this area that are worth mentioning, but one such was a study published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology where participants were asked to either re-pot a houseplant or do a short computer task, the houseplant group showed lowered stress levels. There’s also research suggesting that working around plants actually boosts your attention as well as boosting your productivity. Last but not least, having a plant in your workplace can actually make you enjoy your job more, these employees in the US reported higher job satisfaction compared to people without plants.
Don’t Hold Back – Get Yourself A Plant and Boost The Mood In Your Office!
The best office plant ever? Snake Plants in my opinion, you just can’t go wrong with a snake plant, they’re easy, versatile, pretty! Snake plants need such minimal care and only the occasional water and dust compared to other houseplants. I do also love the golden pothos since it’s a little bit faster to grow and you can do more with them than the snake plant (but really, we love all plants here).
But, that being said, any of the plants on this list are amazing. Realistically, I don’t see why you couldn’t get all 9 of them.
Enjoyed Reading Our Thoughts on the Best Small Office Plants?
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