3 minute read
Greening your workspace
GREENING workspace your
Garden designer Jack Wallington shares how to create a greener environment in your practice room…
RESEARCH in hospitals has proved that live plants reduce stress and anxiety among patients, leading to an improved and shortened recovery. If plants can do that for people recuperating from illness or surgery, they must improve our daily wellbeing in our homes and workplaces. They make sense in the practice room as plants reduce physiological stress, making us feel more comfortable, reminding us of nature and providing an interesting, calming distraction.
Desk gardens
I spent fifteen years working in shared open-plan offices, and most of my week involved sitting at a small desk, staring at a computer screen and, quite often, a blank wall. For me, indoor plants played a crucial role in making those spaces bearable and even exciting – some days I’d rush to work to see if a new leaf had unfurled or if a flower had opened. At my first office job I remember ordering three succulents to grow on my desk, including a ponytail palm (Beaucarnea recurvata), which sit next to my desk at home now, many years later, bonsaied through limited repotting. I’ve had plants growing on my desk in each job ever since and, now I work from home, the indoor jungle has grown. I’ve found that not only do desk plants make the work space look more aesthetically pleasing and personal (especially in open-plan offices), but also they are essential to my wellbeing. I enjoy this tiny, easy-to-carefor garden on my desk, bringing a little piece of nature indoors.
To grow houseplants on a desk, you will need to be fairly close to a window for sunlight. If your desk is in direct sun for most of the day you can easily grow cacti and succulents, which are perfectly suited to life indoors; houses and offices have dry climates most akin to arid deserts. Shadier desks can grow tropical plants that come from dark forest floors. One desk plant is good, but I’d recommend growing a few, because you increase the chances of one of them doing something interesting at any given time of the year. On my desk Rebutia ‘Apricot Ice’ grows in spring and flowers in summer, while Lithops salicola grows new leaves in spring and flowers later in autumn.
Meeting rooms
We spend a lot of time in meeting rooms, yet they can be empty, boring spaces that aren’t at all conducive to collaboration and productive thought. Many are lucky to have windows. Occasionally a token palm will be added (Chamaedorea elegans is a good one), but I see meeting rooms as an opportunity to grow several large indoor plants together as a pot collection, exactly as plants in pots are arranged outside. With space for indoor trees and shrubs, carefully planned meeting rooms can house a sizable volume of greenery. In meeting rooms I’ve used Strelitzia reginae, the bird of paradise plant, with beautiful paddle leaves and striking orange flowers, and different species of large Ficus trees.
Office gardens
Office gardens and outdoor spaces, such as balconies, rooftop terraces and courtyards, are more important for our wellbeing at work than we give them credit for. As populations migrate to cities, these outdoor areas may be one of our few chances to see nature and make connections with the outside world. Adding plants is obviously a good thing for those physically using the spaces, but they are often seen from office windows too, making them doubly important. n
Jack’s new book A Greener
Life is published by and available from your local bookshop or online retailers. Find out more at
