In an eight-month study, the Texas A&M University research team 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 demonstrative more innovative thinking, generating more ideas and original solutions to problems in the office environment that included plants and flowers. In these surrounding, men who participated in the study generated 15% more ideas. And while makes generated a greater abundance of ideas, females generated more creative, flexible solutions to problems when plants and flowers were present.

Research performed by Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Texas A&M University, Helen Russell of Surrey University in England as well as those conducted by Dr. Virginia Lohr of Washington State University verify that plants significantly lower workplace stress and enhance worker productivity. In Dr. Lohr’s study, common interior plants were used in a computer laboratory with 27 computer workstations. A computer program to test productivity and induce stress was specifically designed for these experiments. Participants working in an environment with plants present were 12 percent more productive and less stressed than those who worked in an environment without plants.

Studies have proven a direct relationship between clinical health complaints and plant installations. Sick Building Syndrome is a serious and expensive issue, and the degree to which interior plants can positively affect employee’s health is an important issue in today’s workplace.