Whether you work in a vast open plan office, or you’re holed up in your work-from-home space on a daily basis, we’d struggle to think of a desk-working environment that wouldn’t be improved by greenery. Plants for desks aren’t just a pleasure to look at; they’re a big boost for wellness, productivity, and happiness too.

In this article we’ll be exploring why every desk should have a plant, the most popular desk plants to brighten your workspace with, and how to give the perfect desk plant gift to a loved one in your life.

Why are plants important in an office?

Those wellness benefits we talked about aren’t just perceived - there’s science to back it up. A study carried out by the University of Exeter compared ‘lean’ offices with ‘green’ ones, and found that the latter could ‘increase productivity by 15%.’ They also suggested that ‘bringing plants into offices can improve well-being and make people feel happier at work.’ For something that looks good too, there really is every reason to pop something potted next to your computer!

Why buy a real plant for your desk over a fake one?

Of course, there is the option to buy a plastic plant over a real one - after all, it’s green and looks the part, right? But even leaving aside the negative affect on the environment of consuming more unnecessary plastic, faux plants miss the point somewhat; not only does a fake plant not provide the satisfaction of growing, changing, allowing you to care for it, but it also doesn’t improve air quality like real plants do. The only thing a fake plant collects from the air is dust!

What are the best desk plants for an office?

Now that you’re sold on your desk’s most important accessory, it’s time to find out which ones are best suited to the job. Having years of experience in growing and caring for indoor plants, we know exactly which ones make the best colleagues. Here are our top picks for the best desk plants:

Money plant

Compact and easy to care for, the Money plant is an excellent desktop plant. They add a rich injection of greenery to your workspace, thriving in a range of environments, providing they’re protected from extreme cold - they even do well in darker rooms! They’re slow growers, so there’s no need to constantly re-pot, and a quarter of a tea cup of water each week is generally enough to keep them going.

The money plant is also said to bring their owner good luck - and who doesn’t need a bit of that during the working day?

Dracaena

This striking houseplant brings a bit of structure to any desk, with defined, stripy foliage. Also known as the dragon tree, the Dracaena is another relatively low maintenance desk plant, provided that your desk is in a warm room away from cold draughts.

Watering is required only when the top of the soil is dry, which is an occurrence that will increase in summer, and reduce to as little as once every other week in the winter.

Cordyline Chocolate Queen

Got a fair amount of space on a bright, warm desk? This unusually named plant is the ideal one to fill it. It makes a stunning feature in your workspace, with beautiful vibrant foliage. The Cordyline Chocolate Queen enjoys a light misting to keep up its humidity levels, as well as regular watering to keep the soil moist.

Zebra plant

If you’re after an easy-to-care-for desk plant, you can’t go far wrong with a succulent, and the Zebra plant is one of the most interesting to look at. Requiring just an egg cup’s worth of water every week or two to stay healthy, this plant is the ultimate modern desk accessory, perfect if your desk is situated in a warm room with a bright outlook.

Parlour Palm

If you assumed that you have to have a bright, sunny office in order to have a plant in your workspace, you’d be wrong; the Parlour Palm is a dark desk’s friend. Their foliage is a year-round gorgeous green, and they stay happy at room temperature, provided they’re misted if it gets hot in the summer.

Parlour Palms will get taller with the right care, so you can look forward to watching its progress as the working days fly by.

Give a desk plant gift to someone you love

We’ve talked at length about why a plant gift is a lovely idea for any occasion, and an indoor plant gift specifically for your desk-working loved one is no exception. Desk plants are thoughtful gifts that just keep on giving, having a real impact on the recipient’s day to day activities and reminding them of you whenever they glance at it during their working day.

For plant gifts that last the way they should, you should source them from a nursery that has the plant’s best interests at heart - that’s us here at Plants4Presents! Growing and distributing our plants right here from our nursery gives the plant its very best start, and we even go so far as to coordinate dispatch times to reduce time spent in chilly transit. We’ll send care instructions too, so that each plant can stay well looked after.

For stunning desk plant gifts delivered to your loved one, choose from our range of indoor plants, select the pot you’d like it to arrive in, and even put together a gift message that we can handwrite for you. We’ve thought of everything, including speedy delivery.