Artificial vs Real Plant Hire | The Benefits of Plants Indoors

The benefits of plants indoors are proven and tested, but we understand artificial might have a certain appeal. If you’re debating whether to invest in one or the other, this is the perfect article to help you make up your mind.

Real Plant Hire versus Fake Plant Hire

Real plant hire is all the rage right now. Indoor office plants and green walls are the perfect finishing touch to a working environment. Buying and maintaining plants is an expensive, time-consuming task, which is why so many businesses are relying on real plant hire. The benefits of plants indoors make it an appealing choice for many businesses. Many studies have proven that simply looking at nature can improve mood, help us feel calmer and increase productivity and creativity. Since we spend so much time indoors, it makes perfect sense to work with nature close by.

Plants are all over social media and they’re flooding cafes and stores – because we’re all realising the positive impact plants can have on our lives. Not only do they add a pop of colour and provide great design features, but plants also have some great health and productivity benefits! And thankfully, real plant hire solves all the common issues that can come with having real plants in the office.

Before we get carried away though, we should weigh up the pros and cons of both fake and real plant hire. While many argue that artificial plants are great because they’re indestructible, we’d argue that the environmental, aesthetic and health cost is way too steep to make fake plants a viable option. We may be biased though!

When real plants are added to a workspace, they help create a healthier, more productive and enjoyable environment. Rather than working in an area dominated by bright fluro lights, dry air-conditioned air and beige aesthetics, real plant hire enables you to create a healthy, inspiring space in your office or workplace.

Nevertheless, many people find it difficult to decide between fake or real plant hire. Factors you may consider include budget, available light, office design, space and layout. There are pros and cons to both fake and living plants, and though faux foliage has improved greatly in recent years, the biggest health benefits of plants indoors to employees can only be provided by – you guessed it! – real plant hire.

We’ve analysed some of the benefits of plants indoors. If you’re considering the best indoor plant option for your working environment, you may want to consider the following:

Real Plant Hire

Working with living plants in the office provides many physical and emotional health benefits.

Pros of Real Plant Hire

  1. Provides oxygen into the environment. With less toxins in the air, you’ll experience less yawning and feel more energised and productive.
  2. Helps to improve indoor air humidity.
  3. Natural air purifiers. If you check out our best indoor plants list, you’ll find that plants absorb toxins and purify the air, removing harmful VOC’s such as benzene, formaldehyde and xylene most often found in indoor office environments. NASA research suggests that potted plants remove impurities from the air which is particularly important for anyone living in cities, where there are more chemicals and pollution in the air.
  4. A natural living organism.
  5. Real plants look amazing, so they instantly boost mood and morale. The right real plant hire will make your office will feel livelier.
  6. Can help to increase productivity and creativity.
  7. Won’t become landfill and will eventually decompose back into the environment.
  8. Easier to clean, as dust does not stick to foliage.
  9. Leaves don’t fade.
  10. Unhealthy leaves can be pruned, and new foliage will grow.
  11. Live plants help to create a sense of serenity, helping to restore wellbeing, reduce stress and increase health. UTS research suggests that because of their ability to reduce stress, plants can lessen the likelihood of certain illnesses and symptoms of illness.
  12. Boost productivity by reducing stress and increasing memory retention and concentration by up to 20%.
  13. Indoor plants work wonders, in whichever environment they find themselves. A 2006 KSU study suggests that when hospital rooms were filled with plants, surgical patients were less stressed, more positive, and even recovered more quickly than those in rooms without plants.

Most Australians live in urban areas, with most of our time spent indoors. Increasing the plants in our living and working environments is a great way to increase our health, reducing stress.

Cons of Real Plant Hire*

  1.  Needs regular maintenance such as watering, fertilising and pruning (the Tropical Plant Rentals team will take care of this for you!)
  2. Can become unhealthy or be pest infested (not if the Tropical Plant Rentals team is caring for them!)
  3. Buying living plants can be expensive, if you’re looking for established plants (in this situation, real plant hire is often a better financial option than buying).
  4. Unhealthy, dead or dying plants can have a demoralising effect on employees (again, our team will make sure this never happens!)

*Thankfully, we have the solution to these problems! When you get on the real plant hire bandwagon and work with the Tropical Plant Rentals team, you’ll find that our packages are cost-effective, and the fact that we maintain the plants ourselves makes it such an easy option! You cannot go wrong with real plant hire, especially when you work with the Tropical Rentals team. In general, the benefits of plants indoors are weightier than the cons.

Artificial Plants

The quality and aesthetics of some artificial foliage has improved in the past decade and having artificial greenery in your office does have a few advantages.

Pros of Artificial Plants

1) Quality artificial plants often look somewhat like nature, so may boost mood and morale a little.

2) Don’t need soil, watering, fertilising or pruning.

3) Can be positioned anywhere as they don’t require sunlight.

4) Won’t attract insects.

5) Wide range of options.

Cons of Artificial Plants

1) Tend to be dust collectors, with dust sticking to the plastic leaves.

2) With age, leaves can become sticky.

3) Need regular cleaning, which can be a tedious and time-consuming task, usually to be tackled outdoors.

4) Prone to fading.

5) Don’t provide oxygen.

6) Don’t improve indoor air humidity.

7) Don’t clean air from harmful toxins found indoors.

8) Lifeless and do not grow, only a synthetic replica of a real living plant.

9) Made from artificial materials and dyes, unhealthy for our environment.

10) Can generate an unpleasant chemical smell.

11) Non-biodegradable and will eventually become landfill.

12) Flammable and can cause fire hazard.

13) Environmentally un-friendly. Manufactured with toxic dyes in huge factories and high pollution, fake plants have a large carbon footprint.

We’ve decided: real plant hire is better!

When considering the health and productivity of your team, the benefits of plants indoors and real plant hire far outweigh anything fake plants can offer.

It’s a well-known fact that indoor plants are natural air purifiers and are good for our mental health. While fake plants can look the part, they can be detrimental to our health and to the environment.

Artificial plants are just a copy of the alive, breathing, growing, air cleansing, living plant. So why not go with real plant hire and enjoy the real thing!

If the benefits of living plants outweigh the negatives for your work environment, but you don’t have a green thumb, the time, patience or knowledge to take care of living plants, don’t despair. Tropical Plant Rentals provide healthy indoor plant hire and maintenance. We have over 40 years’ experience in the indoor plant hire industry, with a team of experts in Sydney, Central Coast, Newcastle, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Wollongong and Melbourne. Our team will work with you to bring life to your workplace, and we’ll even take care of all plant maintenance.

One of our team members will consult with you to discuss your real plant hire options, to make sure you select the right plants to suit your environment. This can be done by taking into consideration your requirements, design and layout. This is one of the benefits of working with Tropical Plant Rentals. Our expert team will take care of you.

The good news is, if you opt for real plant hire and they become unhealthy, we will replace them, free of charge as part of our maintenance program.

We offer our professional plant hire service and maintenance program to offices, hotels, lobby, foyer or reception areas, showrooms, aged care facilities, hospitals, medical centres, restaurants, cafes and display centres.

We also specialise in real plant hire for all types of events including television and filming, concerts, expos, festivals, theatre, photoshoots, displays, parties, weddings or any corporate function. Our plant stylist can turn your event into something special using healthy, lush plants and pots from our stylish designer range.

While there are a few benefits to faux plants, real plant hire comes out on top, in our books. And paired with our team’s commitment to foliage maintenance, you really can’t go wrong with Tropical Plant Rental’s real plant hire service!

Contact the Tropical Plant Rentals team today, to discuss your real plant hire needs.

Our Range

Now that we’ve proven the benefits of plants indoors, don’t forget to check out our range. We have a variety of styles, sizes, shapes, and colours to create the real WOW factor.

Our beautiful range of plant pot hire and containers include various desktop planters, floor pots, hanging planters, wall mounted planters and troughs. If space permits, why not choose from our extra-large floor pot range to showcase large healthy plants and really make an impact.

One of our friendly team will be happy to have a chat or arrange a site visit for a no-fuss, no-obligation quote. Beautiful office plant pot hire not only enhances your company image but can also impress your staff, clients, and visitors.

If you’d like to brighten your office using our healthy indoor plants and stylish designer pots and containers, contact us online or free call on 1800 631 365.

Australia's #1 Indoor Plant Hire Company

Over 40 years in the Indoor Plantscape Industry