Cubicle Landscaping

According to office gardener Lori Ann Asmus, there are many benefits to having live plants in this kind of environment. "It's very important to have beauty in your environment particularly when you're in an area like this with all the gray cubicles and computers," she says. Fancy artwork on the wall collect dust, but beautiful live plants help to eliminate dust. Not only are plants able to absorb and transform toxins that can come from things like particleboard in the desks, fibers in the carpets or chemicals in the cleaning products, many plants are able to acclimate to the amount of light in the workspace. "There are quite a few plants that do very well just under fluorescent lighting," says Asmus.

But there is such a thing as too much light for some plants (figure C). Some plants that are low-light-tolerant are going to bleach out a little bit under high-light conditions. For example, this pothos is starting to appear bleached (figure D). The solution is to feed the plant. More light means that the plant is working harder and needs nutrients. Asmus recommends a balanced fertilizer for indoor containers, but be careful not to fertilize too much. You want enough to keep the plants green and growing, but not so much that the fertilizer begins to build up in the soil. "Anytime you're fertilizing plants indoors, I recommend using a half dose of whatever fertilizer you're going to use and to always stop fertilizing during the winter months--from about October to March.

One thing you won't stop, however, is watering. How much you water your office plants depends on the environment. If the lights are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that plant is working around the clock and will probably need to be watered often. Or, as in the case of a basement office, the lights are on only when people are in the office, and it's dark at night and on weekends.

"The plants aren't using as much water, and they're also not using as much fertilizer, so the frequency of your watering is probably going to be less," Asmus says. In other words, when you water, do so thoroughly, but you may only water every 10 to 14 days as opposed to every five or seven days in a high light environment.

If you're concerned about gnats and spider mites invading your office plants, you should be, says James. "Lots of critters lay their eggs in a damp environment. You can eliminate that problem entirely by allowing the soil mix to dry out thoroughly in between waterings. Mold shouldn't be a problem either, since most indoor potting mix is soil-less and resistant to mold."

When looking for an appropriate plant for your office space, there are a few things to consider. First, what kind of plant do you want to put into your office? There are a lot of colors, textures and different kinds of plants available to you.