15 of the Best Aesthetic Plants for Your Home and Office

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.

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.

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.

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.