Houseplants for a home office

A greener workspace can boost your productivity and your mood. Plant and interior stylist Hilton Carter shares his tips

Whether you work from home or in an office, adding plants to that space really can help you get through the day. Studies have shown that plants in the workplace lower stress levels, allowing a room to be more creative. So you’re adding a new plant, becoming less stressed and cooking up fresh ideas at work – that’s a win-winwin, especially as so many of us are now creating new places to work in our home, and spending more time there.

Easy picks

This space (shown on the right) has the right idea for the perfect home-office plant display. It uses a combination of a large Peruvian apple cactus (Cereus repandus),

a few air plants (Tillandsia

species) and a golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum). These are all great plants to have in your workspace – they don’t require much attention, and you’ll feel so much better knowing they’re doing fine while you’re away. The plants you bring into your office will be based on the light you get in that space. Here the work desk is next to a large, west-facing window, which lets in a good amount of light during the second half of the day. If you work in an office that doesn’t have windows, but you really want to bring plants in, you’re going to need a grow lamp that you can put on your desk. In my opinion, the cool kids at the office have always been those that have had plants at their desks!