Plant Care Guide + the 8 Best Plants for Your Retail Space in NJ
Plants are an easy way to add some color and interest to an office space or store. They need a little maintenance, but what they provide far outweighs the amount of work you need to put in. In this post, we want to talk about plants in an office space – its benefits, some of the best plants for your retail space in NJ, and a quick care guide.
Benefits of Having Plants in Your Retail Space in NJ
Plants aren’t just pretty to look at – they do a lot of good things for the space. Here are some benefits of having plants indoors:
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More oxygen
Plants, as you probably know, produce oxygen during daytime. So this means that if you live downtown or in a polluted area, having plants in your office will help you improve the air a little by adding some oxygen to it. If the air is oxygen-deprived, you start to feel the effects soon, and it isn’t a pleasant experience!
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Better air quality
Some plants help remove pollutants from the air. Pothos, peace lily, aloe vera and many other indoor plants have been found to remove common pollutants from the air. So, add some plants – real ones – to improve the air quality inside. Your customers (and your lungs) will thank you!
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Add personality
Plants add some personality to a space. Without them, a retail space looks kind of empty – it’s all business. All retail spaces look alike – they have the same walls, the same floors, the same general layout. When you add decorative elements, you have the option to pick and choose things that you like. Plants, having some ornamental value, fall into the same category and help you soften the look of your retail space in NJ. It helps the place stand out from others, and to be a little interesting.
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Repel pests
Some plants can help repel pests, so you can do pest control in a fully organic way. Just like us humans, insects don’t like certain smells. You can grow pest-repelling plants such as lavender, basil and lemon balm that will keep mosquitoes and other annoying bugs away from your desk. Most of these plants smell rather nice to humans, which is an added benefit!
The 8 Best Plants for Your Retail Space in NJ
Based on several factors such as attractiveness, air purifying ability and tolerance for low-light conditions, here are some of the best plants to have in your retail space:
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Ferns
For a plant that’s a centerpiece, choose a fern. Boston fern, Bird’s nest fern and Button fern are all great examples. You can place them on a table or other platform, from where they’ll sort of cascade down and create a soft look. Their leaves are gorgeous and have a whimsical, artsy feel. Ferns don’t need a lot of care, and do fairly well in low light conditions.
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Peace lily
One of the most attractive indoor plants you can find, peace lily has gorgeous white flowers that last weeks, and it performs excellently without sunlight or fertilizer. Its flowers will need deadheading however, since most varieties have flowers that turn dark green once they’re past their prime.
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Aloe vera
If you want a small tabletop plant that can be placed on a desk or sunny windowsill, go with aloe vera. The plant thrives on neglect – you don’t have to do anything maintenance-wise, and watering infrequently is recommended.
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Golden pothos
Another dramatic plant great for a spot that needs some interest. Pothos is a plant that really performs well indoors. It looks wonderful in hanging planters or placed in high spots, from where it can cascade down. It needs a little maintenance – pruning, fertilizing, watering – but it helps remove pollutants from the air.
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String of pearls
Want something new? Try this plant out! Its appearance is so unique a lot of people have trouble wrapping their heads around it initially. It’s a succulent, with little round ‘pearls’ as leaves. It does well in low light conditions, and if you’re lucky it’ll bear flowers that smell like cinnamon. An all-round excellent addition to your retail space in NJ!
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African violet
If you want a pop of color, African violets are your friend. They are super hardy, needing little to no care. They have gorgeous violet blooms (that would look beautiful next to those of a peace lily). The leaves are an attractive dark green. These plants are the perfect package if you want something cute.
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Phalaenopsis
Love orchids? Try the phalaenopsis plant (also called a moth orchid). These are orchids that perform well in low-light conditions, so you can grow them indoors and enjoy the pretty blooms. Orchids are lovely plants that bear interestingly shaped flowers. Their long bloomstalks look graceful and feminine.
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Dracaena
If you want a minimalist look, a dracaena plant will serve you well. Suitable for offices and retail stores, the dracaena plant likes warm weather and has variegated leaves that add some color. You can get many different varieties – from plants that have an almost spiky appearance, to plants with a wispy look, or ones that look soft and wavy.
Plant Care Guide
Indoor plants are usually very low-maintenance, and don’t need much work to stay looking great. However, here is a general plant care guide that will help you keep your plants healthy and pretty. We’d also like to mention here that while some of the steps mentioned below might seem like a lot of work, most people find plant maintenance to be very soothing. Try it out for yourself sometime!
Watering
The most important bit of maintenance you need to do, and often, the only thing you need to do with a houseplant, is to water it! Plants all have different preferences. Some like moist soil while others like to be fairly dry – for example, cactuses and succulents. When you place your order online, spend a couple minutes reading about the plant’s preferences, or if you’re buying the plant from your local garden store, talk to the staff.
Water the plant as needed using a small watering can. We recommend placing glazed saucers under the containers, so the water doesn’t run out the bottom and make the floors wet – or worse, damage your desk! Glazed terracotta saucers are excellent, and they look pretty too! If you can’t find a glazed variety, buy a normal saucer of the right size, and apply some spray-on sealant. You may need to apply a few coats.
Pruning
To keep your plants looking great, you will need to prune them every few weeks. Some plants need it more often than others. A quick look will usually tell you if your plant needs some help. Pruning means basically cutting out dried or damaged leaves, dead flowers, and any unhealthy growth. You should prune vining plants like golden pothos if you want them to have a uniform, bushy appearance.
When pruning a plant, cut no more than one-third of the total growth. Always try and cut above a node, so the plant can send up new shoots and you don’t see a dead stem poking out in between. You can prune some plants with scissors, but for others (like peace lily) you’ll need pruners. Clean them regularly so you don’t transmit diseases to the plant.
Fertilizing
This step isn’t strictly necessary for most indoor plants. If you have good soil, you can get away with not fertilizing your plants. However, if you want your plants to really perform and to look gorgeous, you need to feed them.
You can get slow-release fertilizer in the form of granules that you need to mix into the soil once or twice a year, or you can go with liquid fertilizer that you give your plants when you water them. This is usually done every two weeks, and is recommended for flowering plants. Fertilizers give plants all the minerals they need to flower, so your plants can put out bigger, prettier blooms.
Deadheading
This refers to the process of removing spent flowers, or trimming old bloomstalks from plants such as peace lily. This is sometimes important so your plants can continue to look nice. Plants like petunia will start to look bad after they are done flowering. Deadheading also encourages your plant to flower more, since the seed-producing stalk has been trimmed off. To deadhead your plants, just use scissors or pruners to gently clip off the stem.
If you want a flowering plant but don’t want to worry about deadheading, try and get a variety that forms pretty seedheads, or where the flowers fall off once they are done blooming.
Pest removal
If your plant gets infested with pests, you will need to get rid of it. Left unchecked, pests will multiply in number and slowly weaken a plant till it dies. Most of the time, you can use an insecticidal spray to get rid of pests. In some cases, an infestation can get worse quickly. When that happens it’s usually best to discard the plant to risk infecting your other plants.
Need Help Finding the Perfect Retail Space in NJ?
The Blau & Berg Company is here for all your real estate needs. Whether you need it to be small or large, downtown or on the outskirts, we will help you find a space that suits your company’s needs exactly. We have worked with hundreds of clients in the area and understand what people look for in a retail space or office.
