Back to school time brings a flurry of activities – school shopping, dorm-room decorating, and getting your mind back into the groove of studying.

Grow your mind

Carving out an area that’s conducive to study is an ideal way to help set study habits that will take you through the year (and years to come!). Education experts recommend creating a study area that’s spacious, neat, has comfortable seating, good lighting, and is free from distractions. Did you also know that a plant on your desk or in your study spot can help spur on your success this coming school year? It’s true!

Plants make the ideal study buddy

On a desk, near your bed, a houseplant infuses a space with a sense of nature, and imbues it with a calm natural feeling. Plants offer more than just pretty faces. Scientific research shows that just being around plants helps boost creativity. A recent study at Texas A&M University showed plants can help improve problem solving skills. And researchers at the University of Michigan discovered indoor plants help improve attention span and memory.

Destress yourself

Plants can also help you stay positive and upbeat (because who doesn’t feel thrilled when beholding a new leaf unfurling or a bud opening to a flower?). Being around growing things helps include us in the growing green world. And, that makes us feel happier. 

Here are plants that can help turn your study area into the most productive space possible. 

Snake Plant

One of the most forgiving and durable indoor plants you can grow!

Laurentii Snake Plant features mint-green leaves banded with horizontal dark green stripes and golden-yellow leaf edges.

Sansevieria Zeylanica features mid-green leaves banded with horizontal dark green stripes.

Golden Pothos

Let golden pothos climb, trail, or grow horizontally while enjoying its lush, leafy beauty. 

Golden Pothos will develop larger, more dramatic leaves if you let it climb and grow it in a bright spot.

Ponytail Palm

This plant is ideal if you tend to forget about your plants. Ponytail palm can go weeks without water and maintain its sculptural good looks.

In fact, you should only water ponytail palm when the soil dries out completely. Be careful not to over water it because it hates wet roots.

Mini Monstera

Do you love the big, bold look of Monstera deliciosa, but don’t have the space for such a large plant? Mini Monstera to the rescue! You'll love this moundy beauty that will turn into a climber as it matures. 

Mini monstera produces elegant fenestrated leaves (with showy holes and splits) on a much smaller scale.

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a popular houseplant that is so easy care because it has such low-water needs. That means you can forget about it during finals week or that term-paper crunch and it will stand by you. 

This plant has succulent-like stems. It produces a gel in its leaves that’s often used in skin-care products.

Siam Aurora Aglaonema

If you are looking for a dose of uplifting color in your study area, choose this showy Aglaonema.

Siam Aurora features exotic red-and-gold leaf variegation and will be the most colorful member of your houseplant collection. It’s also one of the most tolerant, surviving several weeks of neglect.

Dracaena Golden Heart

A relatively new variety of the tried-and-true corn plant, Golden Heart Dracaena features large, strappy leaves that are variegated with a bright golden-yellow center. 



See all the options in the Grow Your Mind collection.