18 Unkillable Plants for a Windowless Home Office
If your home office is in a shady spot, these plants will cheer it up. They can live literally anywhere.
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Not everyone is lucky enough to have large windows in their home office. But that shouldn’t stop you from brightening up the space with indoor plants.
Whether your home office is in your basement, a dark corner or a windowless room, there is a vast selection of plants that thrive in all these spaces.
What are the best plants for offices with no windows?
- Snake Plant
- ZZ Plant
- Dumb Cane
- Peace Lily
- Dragon Tree
- Arrowhead Plant
- Prayer Plant
- Pothos
- Spider Plant
- Parlour Palm
- Bird’s Nest Fern
- Cast Iron Plant
- Air Plant
- Peperomia
- Bromeliads
- Lady Palm
- Chinese Evergreen
- English Ivy
Take a closer look at some of the best plants for a windowless home office to find the right one for your space.
Editorial Team
Snake Plant Dracaena trifasciata
Other common names include Saint George's sword, mother-in-law's tongue, and viper's bowstring hemp
Hardy, gorgeous, and beginner-friendly, Snake Plants tick every box. These plants thrive in low light areas and require very little care and attention — a great choice for busy households.
Photos by Sarah Bronske & Severin Candrian
Snake Plants come in many forms, the most popular of which is Sansevieria Laurentii. This variety has long flat leaves and grows fairly tall.
Place tall Snake Plants next to the table or in the corner of the room for the best look. Tall Snake Plants grouped together in a rectangular planter can add a distinctive look to your home office. Shorter varieties like Bird’s Nest Snake Plant and Futura Robusta make excellent office desk plants.
ZZ Plant Zamioculcas
Other common names include Zanzibar gem, Zuzu plant, aroid palm, eternity plant and emerald palm
It doesn’t get easier than looking after ZZ. These low maintenance plants are perfect even for those without a green thumb.
ZZ plants require very little light and do well under fluorescent office lighting, making them a favourite in commercial spaces. Their dark green waxy leaves give them an elegant and graceful look in interiors.
Keep them in simple, undecorated pots in neutral colours to let their beauty shine.
Dumb Cane Dieffenbachia
Both its English names, dumb cane and mother-in-law's tongue (also used for Sansevieria species) refer to the poisoning effect of raphides, which can cause temporary inability to speak
A plant that prefers indirect light, Dumb Canes can make your home office feel glamorous. Their large patterned leaves look breathtaking and add a tropical vibe to indoor spaces. In home offices, they can even double as partitions.
Despite their beauty, these plants are not suitable for households with pets and children.
Peace Lily Spathiphyllum
Certain species of Spathiphyllum are also commonly known as spath
Peace Lilies are tropical plants with deep green foliage and hooded white flowers.
While these plants need indirect light, they do well in low light conditions as well. Without much natural light, Peace Lilies don’t flower as much. However, their beautiful foliage makes up for it.
Photos by Severin Candrian & Mitchel Lensink
To make them flower indoors, set up fluorescent lights in your home office. Show off the dark foliage of your Peace Lilies in a minimal, neutral-toned pot or planter.
Dragon Tree Dracaena Marginata, or Dracaena reflexa var. angustifolia
Other common names include “song of India” and “song of Jamaica”
Dragon Trees are plants that hate direct sunlight and look like they came straight from a beautiful alien landscape. They thrive in rooms with filtered and low light, and are a great choice for dark workspaces.
Their slender, spiky leaves look striking in a home office, and as a plus, the plant still works well if you have a sci-fi style office.
Editorial Team
Arrowhead Plant Syngonium podophyllum
Other common names include arrowhead vine, arrowhead philodendron, goosefoot, nephthytis, African evergreen, and American evergreen
Arrowheads are excellent office plants, adapting well to rooms with fluorescent lighting. These plants like moisture and benefit from the occasional misting.
While growing, Arrowheads put out vines. If you’d like your Arrowhead Plant to be a climber, provide trellises or poles for support. You can even guide them to climb on a pin-up board in the office.
Photos by Severin Candrian
Arrowheads can be maintained as short indoor plants by trimming out their vines. This allows them to get more bushy as they grow with a lot of bright green leaves. Take a look at variegated and ink arrowheads to add a unique look to your workspace.
Prayer Plant Maranta leuconeura
Other scientific names include Calathea massangeana, Calathea kerchoveana, Calathea leuconeura
Need more colour in your office? Prayer Plants are a family of tropical plants with interesting colours and patterns. Also known as Calatheas, these plants do well in indirect and fluorescent lighting and love humidity.
Photos by SUN STUDIO CREATIVE & David Clode
Red Calatheas are one of the most popular prayer plants. Their dark green leaves and deep red veins give a decorative look to indoor spaces. For a bolder style, take a look at Calathea Peacock Plants, whose leaves range from green to red.
Pothos Epipremnum aureum
Other common names include golden pothos, Ceylon creeper, hunter's robe, ivy arum, house plant, money plant, silver vine, Solomon Islands ivy, marble queen, and taro vine
Also known as Devil’s Ivy, Pothos is a resilient plant that thrives in spaces with little natural light. If you’re looking for a low maintenance plant, it doesn’t get better than Pothos.
Put it in a hanging pot or up on a shelf for best effect, as it allows the leaves to trail downwards.
Spider Plant Chlorophytum comosum
Other common names include spider ivy, ribbon plant, and hen and chickens
Spider Plants are happy in low light, hardy, and need to be watered only occasionally — the holy trifecta for busy gardeners. They are easy to grow in most indoor spaces, and they grow fast. In many cases, these plants thrive and flower indoors and even produce baby Spider Plants, which can then be repotted.
Photos by Susan Wilkinson & Alberto Nicoletta
These pretty plants with green and white leaves look elegant in colourful pots. Spider Plants are also pet-safe, making it a great option if your pets join you in the home office.
Parlour Palm Chamaedorea elegans
Another common name is neanthe bella palm
Graceful and classy, the Parlour Palm looks good in any part of the room. It tolerates low light, low moisture and can be kept happy with fluorescent light and gentle occasional misting.
Photos by Severin Candrian & Alex Perri
The Parlour Palm used to be a popular houseplant in Victorian homes, which is where it gets its name from. These palms are slow-growing and can be kept on the floor or on a plant stand in a windowless home office.
Bird’s Nest Fern Asplenium nidus
It is also known simply as nest fern
This tropical plant grows in the shade of large plants and trees in nature, and cannot survive in direct sunlight. Instead, they prefer indirect light.
So, Bird’s Nest Ferns are a wonderful choice if you have low levels of natural light in your office. They can also be grown with just artificial light. Nest Ferns appreciate humidity, so make sure to lightly mist it or use a humidifier.
As these plants grow on other plants and trees naturally, they can be grown in vertical planters on the wall for a distinct look. Bird’s Nest Fern also looks elegant in raised metallic planters in the office.
Cast Iron Plant Aspidistra elatior
Other common names include bar-room plant and – in Japanese – haran or baran (葉蘭)
If you’re worried about killing your office plants, you need the Cast Iron Plant. Just like their name, these plants aren’t fussy at all and do well in rooms with artificial lighting. They also don’t need to be watered too often.
The Cast Iron plant’s large green leaves look best in simple pots and planters. Get these for your windowless workspace if you’re looking for a low maintenance plant with a verdant look.
Air Plant Tillandsia
Other scientific names include Acanthospora, Allardtia, Diaphoranthema, Phytarrhiza, Pityrophyllum, Platystachys, Racinaea, ×Racindsia, Renealmia, Strepsia, Viridantha, and Wallisia
Air Plants are gorgeous little plants that don’t need soil to grow. They just hang around (literally) in nature, and get their nutrients from the air. These make wonderful additions to small, windowless desk setups as they take up very little space.
Photo by Severin Candrian
Air Plants need bright, indirect light or full-spectrum fluorescent lighting to grow. Don’t forget to soak them for an hour or two every week and let them air dry after. Look for well-ventilated pots and containers for your Air Plant. This can be a wide decorative bowl, a simple tray, or a quirky Air Plant holder.
Peperomia Peperomia obtusifolia
Other common names include the baby rubberplant or pepper face
Peperomia plants come in many forms, and all of them are equally attractive. As plants that don’t like too much sun, Peperomias are perfect for dark home offices. They tend to grow slowly in unlit and shaded areas, which can be rectified with fluorescent lighting.
Peperomias have small waxy leaves and can be deep green, variegated, or red. Add these cute desk plants to colourful pots to dress up your desk with some greenery.
Bromeliads Bromeliaceae
It is a family of monocot flowering plants of 75 genera and around 3590 known species native mainly to the tropical Americas
Looking for colourful office plants? Bromeliads are vibrant tropical plants that are surprisingly content with artificial lighting alone. These plants are brilliant to look at, and add a unique look to a home office.
With long green or variegated leaves and colourful inner bracts, Bromeliads look amazing in even the simplest pots. Add them to wall shelves or put them up on plant stands to let their vibrancy shine.
Lady Palm Rhapis excelsa
Other common names include broadleaf lady palm and bamboo palm
If you’re looking for a medium to large-sized plant that can thrive in office lighting, a Lady Palm is your best bet.
These beautiful palms with dark green fronds look lush in the home office. Put them in a corner to brighten up the room or keep them near your desk. Taller Lady Palms can also be used to hide wires on the walls.
Chinese Evergreen Aglaonema
It is a genus of flowering plants in the arum family, Araceae, that are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia and New Guinea
Aglaonemas are one of the best indoor plants for windowless rooms. They love low light and do well in home office lighting.
Photos by Severin Candrian & David Clode
Commonly known as Chinese Evergreen, these beginner-friendly plants come in many colours and are capable to brighten up any corner of your home office. Their colours can also help you figure out their light requirements naturally, with dark green varieties requiring the least light.
English Ivy Hedera helix
It is also often called the common ivy, European ivy, or just ivy
Change up the look of your home office with some English Ivy. These hardy plants are climbers that look amazing in hanging planters or trailing from a shelf.
You can also put up trellises or supports to guide your English Ivy. Create a green lush wall, or decorate your shelves with these beautiful plants in your workspace.
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