In an eight-month study, a Texas A&M University research team led by Dr. Roger Ulrich explored the link between flowers, plants and workplace productivity. Participants performed creative problem solving tasks in a variety of common office environment or conditions. The conditions included a workplace with plants and flowers, a setting with sculptures and an environment with no decorative embellishments.

During the study, both men and women demonstrate more innovative thinking, generating more ideas and original solutions to problems in the office environment that included plants and flowers. In these surroundings, men who participated in the study generated 15 percent more ideas. And while men generated a greater abundance of ideas, females generated more creative, flexible solutions to problems when plants and flowers were present.