Design Growth: 5 Places to Buy Succulents and Plants for Your Home Office
The "office plant" used to conjure up images of a withering fern in a clay pot – suffocating from the pulsating rays of fluorescent lights, the landscape of cubicle laminate, and maybe some discouraging comments from your least favorite co-worker.
Flash forward to 2022, and not only are more of us thriving in our remote environments but so are our precious plants. A dog may be "a person's best friend" but an adorable baby succulent is undoubtedly a remote worker's best friend.
Oh to be a plant on the shelf during a particularly chaotic Zoom call.
It's no secret that nature is healing and that's why adding some "green" to your home office will revitalize your workspace and give you a little more pep in your step – or a little more "keyboard click" in your index finger.
Navigating all the different options, whether it be luscious plants or something more low-maintenance like a baby succulent can be overwhelming. Before diving into care guides, you may be wondering what are the best indoor plants for your home office?
And once you know that, where's the best place to get them?
Here are five places to seek out some nature for your home office – and yes, in the 21st Century, these little green friends can arrive in a package.
Your Local Florist
'Buy Local" is more than a buzzphrase. When it comes to plants, sometimes there's nothing more special than a certain baby cactus catching your eye. And that connection's most likely to happen at your nearby corner floral boutique – where plants are in the storefront window and experts are inside.
Not only can a florist walk you through the specific pronunciation and meaning of your new plant's name, but they can provide the most direct care guide, including personalized advice and feedback after hearing about your specific setting (the good news is that home offices tend to have more natural light than your traditional office "park")
Simply typing "florists near me" in your web browser will service helpful results and the ability to weed through reviews, store hours, or even some inspiring photos.
The trip from florist to home may be less taxing for your plant as well, and many typically stock pots and planters to pair with your new purchase. Sometimes it's fun to browse unique "home offices" for your plants as well, as they'll be "working to grow" alongside you.
BedSideHustle has some chic planter options for succulents along with an industrial modern vase if you happen to choose a long-stem friend... check them out.
But when a local florist isn't an option or you want to explore the vast variety of the internet, here are some go-to online platforms for infusing greenery into your home workspace.
Lula's Garden
Lula's Garden is a gift-oriented online succulent platform with the idea that each plant is a memorable relic that endures. You can shop for succulents "By Occasion" or "By Collection." Of course, nothing limits you from gifting one to yourself.
Per their website, Lula's sources their inventory from local and family-owned nurseries. Another perk "sprinkled in" is their partnership with water.org, as Lula's commits that "Each garden sold provides six months of safe water for one person in the developing world."
The succulents vary in design and style, and come in a variety of sets – a single one, a trio flight of succulents, or deluxe packs. Regardless of which offering you order, all of them arrive in eco-friendly boxes which double as their container.
Not only are they minimalist and sleek, but this truly makes any order from Lula's Garden a plug-and-play proposition. Once the succulents outgrow their transit box home, they can always be replanted into a larger planter.
For team leaders or HR heads hoping to send a gift to their remote and distributed teams, Lula's Garden offers a "corporate gift" option that can even customize the the box packaging with your company's logo – some of the most renowned companies in the world (Google, Spotify, and Salesforce) have used their service.
Once you get your succulent, it comes with a dropper so you can properly water it along with an online care guide.
Succulent Market
If there's one thing home offices have been able to provide people with better than their former habitats is cleaner air quality. Succulent Market considers the "air purification" qualities of cacti and succulents to be at the top of the list of their benefits.
With that mission in mind, Succulent Market sells succulents online to provide broad accessibility. A third-generation family business, the e-commerce outlet launched in 2018 – a "growth phase" carried out by the grandson of a couple who began farming these micro-plants and growing the business "from the ground up" back in the 1960s.
Unlike most online sellers of indoor plants, Succulent Market is vertically integrated – servicing not only the online platform and distribution, but functioning as the actually growers of the product itself. This delivers unmatched quality control and more affordable price points.
With over 100 offerings, spanning succulent and cacti varieties like echeveria, aloe, and crassula, among others, Succulent Market provides expansive customization by empowering users with the option to order succulents, potted plants, succulent cuttings, and standalone pots.
You can mix and match whatever's planted in your heart for your workspace – with the perk of free shipping on orders over $65 and the added ability to purchase in bulk.
House Plant Shop
House Plant Shop is a full-service hub for all things plants. Like some of the other websites listed here, they offer a direct-to-consumer catalogue of plants you can order one-off, but with a scope that goes beyond succulents and cacti and includes trailing plants, aquatic plants, tropical plants, and even plants designated as "Pet-Friendly."
With greenhouses in California and Florida, they offer lush and thriving plants along with accessories like planters and watering tools like eye droppers, squeeze bottles, and misters. Their online store also features plant decor and info books, digital care guides, as well as business gifting services.
What separates House Plant Shop is their "Monthly Subscription Box" which they operate through houseplantbox.com. What better way to liven up your home office experience than to get a scheduled delivery of greenery that's sure to become your favorite "meeting."
Subscriptions can be categorized by plant type and some options offer premium selections or pre-potted plants. Subscriptions can be setup monthly or quarterly and also gifted, making it a seamless remote employee perk.
Work-from-home, and get plants-from-anywhere... or from House Plant Shop.
Air Plant Supply Co.
While succulents are the classic home office plant, air plants do not require soil, which make them an even more versatile design piece. Known as Tillandsia, these plants are native to warm and tropical climates and come in more than 600 species.
Air plants are unique not only in that they don't live in soil, but also in that they'll only bloom once in their lifetime – although they can produce offspring which may also bloom as future generations. This gives you something to look forward to as you navigate the day-to-day of your career, knowing that your air-plant co-worker is going through its own personal and professional growth right along side you.
Air Plant Supply Co. is the most comprehensive and purpose-built platform to deliver the experience of air plants to your home workspace. Offering an extensive collection of air plants to choose from, the website is lush with design blogs, care guides, and question-specific articles.
What makes Air Plant Supply Co. particularly savvy for your home office is its decor component, as the company offers terrariums and displays for your air plants that would absolutely level up your home office. With styles ranging from wooden containers, ceramics, teardrop glass, and chic geometric terrariums, these curated environments are ready-made design pieces for your space.
The company powers corporate gifting with branded packaging for bulk orders for your team members, positioning itself as a way to grow bonds even in a remote world. Growth occurs beyond the United States as well, as $1 of every order on Air Plant Supply Co. helps build schools in Guatemala in partnership with Pencils of Promise.
Bonus: Marcellus The Squishmallow
This introverted but friendly specimen is a perfect addition to your home office. While water and sunlight aren't needed, Marcellus may require other care needs.
BedSideHustle Planters
If you pick up or order standalone plants and succulents, shop for BedSideHustle planters and vases here.
