I am leaving my current job in a few weeks for one that pays nearly double, plus I’ll have things like health benefits and paid time off. I don’t have anything like that here.
However, I really like the people at my current job, and I’ll really miss them.
I want to get them a small gift, and as our current office plant (a bonzai palm? I don’t know what it’s called) just went to the big Nursery in the Sky, I think a potted plant would be perfect.
Anyway, I’m open to suggestions. It would be sitting with direct sunlight for part of the day, in a bright room with floor-to-ceiling windows in 2 of the walls. They can probably remember to water it regularly, but anything more complicated than that= dead plant.
Rubber plants are surprisingly hardy, as are their close cousin, the ficus tree. I managed to keep one of both alive through three interstate moves. (I didn’t even try to bring them to California, though.) The ficus tree can be a little messy as it sheds leaves, but nothing that a whisk and pan can’t take care of. The Mother-In-Law’s Tongue is also a fairly hardy one. Philodendrons are easy and lush plants too, espeically if you like creeper/vine types. These are the standards for easy office plants. Go down to your local nursery–not Home Depot or Wal-Mart–and talk to someone there if you want other options.
Oh, and félécitations on the new job. No doubt you make friends there quickly, too. Just bring in a couple of fresh loaves of bread, or a pan of brownies or some such, and your natural charm will do the rest.
Pothos, trained on a little trellis. Those things are nuke-proof. I have several in my office; one is at least 20 years old. It gets straggly, I hack it back, and it bounces right back.
Ficus are nice if the sunlight is sort of filtered. Mine’s brushing my office ceiling though, so they might get too tall.
I also love my office orchids and bromeliads, but those are a little fussier about light and humidity conditions.
Just about any kind od cactus is good for the office. Most require about as much water as they’re likely to get in an office. Better yet, a nice plastic fern or something (even less water needed).
Thanks, Stranger. My natural charm, eh? You’ve never met me IRL, so take my word for it: if I’m relying on that, I’d better load those brownies with lots of… um… chocolate… yeah.
As for plants, I like the looks of the Pothos and the Mother-in-law’s tounge best so far. We have some fantastic nurseries here in town, so I’ll see what they have in stock.
I had two-one was a spider, and the other was a coleus. I did have two windows which might have helped. Cow-orkers bitched that I let them run wild and plant tendrils needed to be moved to see things. A mini-jungle was my goal.
Aspidistra or Yucca. Their ability to survive abuse is legendary.
We purchased a Yucca for our apartment (care instructions read ‘prefers bright light but will tolerate shade. Water every two weeks’) which grew to be HUGE. We decided to get rid of it and stopped watering it. After 4 MONTHS it had started to wilt and turn yellow, so we relented and gave it lots of water. 3 weeks later it had produced a bunch of new leaves and looked like new.
We have a [url=http://www.plant-care.com/chinese-evergreen-aglaonema-cold.html]Chinese Evergreen**. More precisely, we have about 15 of them. All descended from a plant that Papa Zappa inherited from his roommates 22 years ago. They got it from a fraternity one of them had belonged to.
If one of these can survive being owned and mistreated by a fraternity, then by a trio of slacker college students who only occasionally remembered to water it, then they’ll be a good choice for your office. I’ve only known one of this type to die, ever, and that one had been in a large planter with other plants, all of which had an infestation of mealybugs.
Man, I can’t believe I missed this chance to make an Orwell reference. :smack:
I have a personal aversion to yucca–I’ve been literally stabbed by these things too many times while hiking in the mountains–but they are hardy. Just keep them away from the flow of traffic.
What Cowgirl Jules said - golden pothos. I had one at my previous job that followed me from desk to desk for about two and a half years. By the time I left, it had a vinespan (?) of over fifty feet and with some careful use of T-shaped pushpins, went up the walls and along the ceiling for quite some distance.
Here’s a picture of Audrey III when she was about 12 months old.
I vote for the Golden Pothos as well. I have had many plants over the years and the Pothos is one of the hardiest. If you train it to grow on one of those mossy pole things, it will get larger leaves than if you just let it trail.
Have a look at How to Grow Fresh Air by B. C. Wolverton - it lists 50 plants that are good at removing chemicals from the air and replacing them with oxygen. It also ranks them by ease of care.
