Decorate your desk with a beautiful plant. Office plants are ideal for personalizing your workspace -- especially if you work in a "cube farm" where everything is gray or beige. Plants add a sense of life to desks and offices, and can improve your performance at work, too. A number of scientific studies point to ways plants can make us better workers: Being around plants can lower stress and blood pressure; improve our memory and cognitive function, as well as problem-solving abilities; and filter harmful VOCs and other pollutants from the air. That's a lot of benefits!

Caring for an indoor office plant is probably easier than you think. Most just need regular watering at a minimum, and if you want to go all out, you can fertilize once or twice a year and repot them every couple of years. Don't have natural light? No worries! Houseplants don't care if the light they get is natural from the sun or artificial from fluorescent light bulbs. You probably have enough light in your office, too --- if, throughout the day, there's enough light for you to comfortably read a book, magazine, or print out, there's enough light to keep a houseplant happy.

Selecting Plants for Your Desk

While any houseplant should work if you match the conditions it needs, here are three of my favorite office plants.

Colorful Aglaonema.

Colorful and Red Aglaonema are delightfully easy to grow, and as their names suggest, add a bold splash of color to dreary desks. They tolerate low light well, and don't mind if you forget to water them from time to time. I have one on my desk next to telephone and I water it every Friday. That's it, and it's as full and bushy as when I first got it last winter. One of my favorites is Siam Aurora. It's the most durable of the varieties I've grown.

Snake Plant.

Snake plant is a tried-and-true office plant so tough that it practically challenges you to kill it. Unlike Colorful Aglaonema, it has a contemporary, upright form, making it ideal if like the modern look. It's also delightfully tolerant of low light and infrequent watering. There are a few different varieties you can look for, too, including Moonshine, which features silver leaves, and Black Gold, which has dark green leaves edged in golden yellow.

Moth Orchid.

If you like something that looks a little more elegant, go for an easy-care moth orchid. You'll dazzle your corworkers and enjoy its long-lasting, colorful blooms. The display can last as long as three months, then you'll get more blooms the following year. After the flowers have all faded, cut the tall stem back and enjoy moth orchid's strappy leaves. Although they have an undeserved reputation for being tricky to grow, moth orchids are a cinch. Just water them once every 7 to 10 days and you're good!

Learn more: See how plants can improve your productivity at work!

Discover sensational houseplants to add more color.

Written by Justin Hancock