15 of the Best Aesthetic Plants for Your Home and Office

Want to boost your mood, freshen the air and brighten a boring space? Let easy-to-grow aesthetic plants dress up your decor.

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November 14, 2022

By: Lynn Coulter

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Photo By: Lea Hartman

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Photo By: Lively Root

Photo By: Costa Farms

Photo By: Lively Root

Photo By: Costa Farns

Use Aesthetic Plants Like Fiddle Leaf Figs in Your Interior Design

Hold the new paint, wallpaper and carpeting. You don't have to spend a lot of money to glam up your home or office. Houseplants are the way to go, but not just any stretched-out ivy or droopy fern will do. Choose aesthetic plants instead — the ones that earn their place in the sun (or shade) thanks to their rich colors, interesting leaves, and attractive forms and textures.

We’ve rounded up 15 of the best aesthetic plants for indoor spaces. Some are nearly carefree. A few are a little more sensitive about water, light and temperatures, but match your favorites to the growing conditions you can provide and then watch them grow.

This large fiddle leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) makes a spectacular focal point. Dwarf types are available for smaller spaces. These indoor trees have glossy, violin-shaped leaves and need bright, filtered light, a well-draining potting mix and moderate amounts of water. Mist often to raise the humidity around your plant.

How to Care for a Fiddle Leaf Fig

Aloe Vera

With more than 2.3 billion views on TikTok, aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) ranked as the most aesthetic plant in a report by AllAboutGardening.com . The soothing gel in its fleshy leaves is often used to treat skin irritations, and these undemanding succulents don’t need much water or fertilizer. Just pot them in a well-draining potting mix with coarse sand and perlite (or use a cactus potting mix) and give them bright, indirect sunlight. Too much time on the beach? These attractive plants also help relieve sunburns. But they are toxic to people and animals, so don’t ingest the gel or any part of them.

Aloe Vera Planting and Growing Tips

Pothos

Pothos 'Manjula' (Epipremnum aureum), shown here, is a charmer with heart-shaped leaves that are speckled, marbled or splashed with white, silver, cream and green. This rare pothos has wavy-edge leaves, unlike most other varieties. Since the University of Florida developed the cultivar, it can be hard to find at retail, but online sources are available. Tolerant of low light, 'Manjula's' variegated foliage prefers bright, indirect sunlight and the plants don’t need much water. Standard houseplant potting mix is fine. If you can’t find this aesthetic plant, try 'Global Green', 'Golden Pothos' or another pothos with a lush, trailing, climbing or horizontal growth habit.

Pothos Plant: Care and Growing Tips

Spider Plant

Grow one spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) and watch for baby spider plants, or pups, to form at the ends of its long stems. These classic, aesthetic plants can be solid green or variegated in lime green, dark green, cream or white. Plant them indoors in hanging baskets or pots filled with a well-draining potting mix and keep them evenly moist. Spider plants aren’t just visually interesting; a NASA study found that they helped purify indoor air (although you'd need a lot of them). We love them because they’re easy to grow and happy in bright, indirect sunlight. Snip off the pups when they’re about two inches in diameter and repot them for more welcome greenery.

Spider Plant Indoor Care

Flowering Bromeliad

It's hard to choose just one bromeliad (Bromeliaceae) from all the forms and colors available. Some have flowers that last for weeks, months or even up to a year, but these stylish, aesthetic plants bloom once and then slowly die. Flower colors range from pink to purple, white, yellow, red and more. Bromeliads have rosettes of ornamental leaves that can be variegated or banded. These unique houseplants thrive in indirect medium to bright sunlight. Let them dry out between waterings. Some have a leaf cup, or "tank," that you’ll need to keep filled with water (see your plant’s label or tag for more info). Mist them often to give them the humidity they crave and grow them in a well-draining soil mix. They’re conversation pieces that will add visual interest to your home or office.

Growing Bromeliads: How to Care for Bromeliads

Calathea

Give your room a dash of drama with trendy, new calathea 'Dottie' (in the Goeppertia genus and Marantaceae family) and its dark, purple-green leaves with hot-pink bands. Unlike many of the other aesthetic plants on our list, calatheas are thirsty plants and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This selection likes humidity and bright to medium indirect light. It doesn't like drafts, so keep it away from vents, doors and windows. Indirect light is ideal. Calatheas are commonly called prayer plants because their leaves move up at night and fold down again in the daytime.

ALSO SEE: 30 Indoor Plants for Low Light

Lucky Bamboo

If you’re into feng shui, you may be growing lucky bamboo already. Even If you’re not, these Dracaena sanderiana plants—they’re more like succulents than bamboo—are sold in braided stalks, curls, spirals and other shapes that add interest to any room. These strikingly aesthetic plants like low to medium light and evenly moist, rich potting soil that drains easily. Lucky bamboo will also grow in a container filled with at least an inch of water if you replace the water often. If you have hard water, use rainwater or distilled or bottled water free of chlorine and other chemicals. Drop some pebbles or marbles into the water to hold the stems in place.

Bamboo Plant: Get to Know It Before You Grow It

Bird of Paradise

Bird of paradise plants (Strelitzia reginea) are stately, tropical beauties. Sometimes called crane flowers, they’re prized for their gorgeous blooms, which have three bright orange petals and three blue ones growing together in the shape of a bird. Give them room to grow; they can top out at 3 to 4 feet tall. They prefer bright, indirect light. Let the soil dry out between waterings and don’t worry about increasing the humidity. They’re fine in the average home or office. Just be patient or look for a mature bird of paradise. This aesthetic plant can take 3 to 6 years to flower. Another variety: The Giant Bird of Paradise. Its buds are made up of three black and white petals fused together in the form of a bird.

All About Bird of Paradise Plant

Rabbit's Foot Fern

Rabbit's foot ferns (Davallia fejeensis) have cute, furry “feet,” or surface rhizomes that creep over the edges of pots and hanging baskets. Their soft, delicate fronds add an airy look to spaces with moderate to bright, indirect sunlight. Like most ferns, this one craves humidity, so mist it often and keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Water a bit less in the winter, when growth slows down, and move your fern to a cool spot that doesn’t drop below 55 degrees. Repot your plant or divide its rhizomes and plant them in the spring and summer, using a good quality, well-draining potting mix.

Also See: 16 Fabulous Indoor and Outdoor Ferns

Majesty Palm

This graceful, aesthetic plant, Majesty palm (Ravenea rivularis), is very popular, thanks to its elegant looks and relatively slow growth habit. It’s a classic plant that adds a tropical touch to your decor and works beautifully with most room colors. Use it to dress up a bare corner or put a few in a row to act as a living screen or room divider. Indoors, it craves medium to bright light and evenly moist soil. It also likes humid environments, such as well-lit bathrooms. Avoid letting it dry out.

How to Care for a Majesty Palm Indoors

Monstera

No, bugs haven't chewed your prized plant to pieces. This Monstera esqueleto is a climbing vine that can grow almost 3 feet long, and it has eye-catching foliage that resembles Swiss cheese. Small holes form near the center of the leaves while larger ones appear close to the edges. If this trendy, aesthetic plant is hard to find, consider the Little Swiss Monstera (Monstera adansonii), which looks a lot like it. This big, tropical beauty needs indirect sunlight and should be watered when the top two inches of soil feel dry. Brown leaf edges may mean the humidity is too low, but in general, average to above-average home humidity is fine. Some sources list it as Monstera epipremnoides.

Also See: How to Care for Monstera, the Swiss Cheese Plant

Philodendron

There are so many kinds of philodendrons, you can find just the right size, shape and color for almost any indoor space. Some are vines that will climb a totem pole or trellis or dangle pleasingly from a hanging basket. They’re super easy to grow, happy in medium to bright light and can even tolerate low light. They’ll survive if you forget to water them from time to time, but your goal should be to water them when the soil surface dries out. Look for them in green and variegated colors. Handsome 'Birkin,' shown here, has heart-shaped leaves with alternating white and green pinstripes. Unlike other varieties, it can grow upright into a 3-foot-tall tree-like form, although it grows relatively slowly.

Philodendron Care

Xanthosoma

Rare, tropical Xanthosomas have big, arrow-shaped leaves marked with creamy-white veins. This eye-catching exotic can grow 2 to 3 feet tall, so you can enjoy it as a floor plant if you have a warm area with bright light. While it’s still small, use it to accent a desk or tabletop. You might see this plant sold as Caladium lindenii, Xanthosoma lindenii and Phyllotaenium lindenii, depending on how various botanists have classified it. Fluorescent and LED lights are fine, but it loves medium to bright indirect sun (just avoid too much, which can burn the foliage). Also, don't overwater this unusual aesthetic plant. It typically needs watering when the top 2 inches of potting mix feel dry, but that can vary with temperature, light levels and so on. Give it extra humidity by misting it, running a humidifier nearby or sitting it on top of a big tray filled with a few pebbles and some water. To avoid root rot, don’t let the bottom of the pot touch the water.

Dieffenbachia

Dieffenbachias are nicknamed dumb canes because they can cause swelling in your mouth and throat, which could lead to a temporary loss of speech. But these aesthetic lovelies are actually living decorations that prefer bright, indirect or filtered light (turn your plant often to balance its growth). Wait until the soil feels dry to about one inch deep before you water. Dieffenbachias need well-draining potting soil and don’t mind average home humidity levels. We’re fond of 'Camille’, a beauty with oval leaves edged in green that fade to white in the centers. It needs space since it can grow 4 to 6 inches wide and 8 to 10 inches high.

Dieffenbachia: Planting and Care for Dumb Cane Plant

ZZ Plant

Undemanding ZZ plants (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) are among the easiest aesthetic plants to grow. They're not especially well known, although they've been around as houseplants since the 1990s. ZZs can take anything from low light to low humidity and short periods of drought. Just water them at least every two weeks (or when the top inch of two or the potting mix dries out). These are ideal office plants since they don't need natural light and thrive even under fluorescents. We like ZZ 'Chameleon' because its new foliage emerges bright golden-yellow before turning dark green. 'Raven' is another beauty with dark, purplish-black leaves that contrast nicely with other houseplants.

How to Care for a ZZ Plant

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