Best artificial plants for commercial spaces — offices, restaurants, cafes & Airbnb

Best plants: Faux olive trees 160–210cm for common areas and boardrooms; compact faux plants 90–120cm for individual workstations and breakout areas.

Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that enriching a bare office with plants increases productivity by 15%. The same effect is achieved with quality faux plants — the psychological benefit comes from the presence of greenery, not from the plants being alive. Australian office designers have been specifying premium faux plants in commercial fit-outs since the mid-2020s for exactly this reason.

Reception areas: The reception is the first thing clients, candidates and visitors see. A 180–210cm faux olive tree or fiddle leaf fig in a substantial pot beside the reception desk creates immediate warmth and professionalism. Position on the side that is visible on approach — typically to one side of and slightly behind the reception desk rather than directly behind the receptionist.

Boardrooms and meeting rooms: One large faux tree (160–180cm) in a corner of a boardroom creates presence without distracting from the purpose of the space. The olive tree is the most common specification — its calm, structured character suits a professional context. Avoid dramatically tropical species in boardrooms — birds of paradise and palms are too informal for the majority of Australian corporate settings.

Breakout spaces and communal areas: Multiple plants at varying heights work well in breakout spaces — a 180cm statement tree anchors the area, with smaller 90–120cm companions creating a layered, garden-like quality. This is the commercial context where you can use the most plants without it looking overdone.

Best plants: Large statement faux olive trees or ficus trees for floor positions; faux kiku arrangements or compact plants as table or bar accents.

Restaurants have two competing needs — atmosphere that makes the dining experience feel special, and durability that survives being knocked, brushed past, and cleaned around multiple times a day. Quality faux plants satisfy both. The key constraint is cleaning — restaurant environments involve food particles, cooking vapour, and spilled drinks that accumulate on nearby surfaces including plants. Monthly cleaning with a mild solution keeps faux plants looking pristine in this environment.

Dining room floor positions: Large faux olive trees (180–210cm) in heavy concrete or fibrestone pots positioned in corners and at zone boundaries create the layered, intimate atmosphere of the best Australian restaurant interiors. Heavy pots are essential in restaurant settings — lightweight containers will be knocked over in busy service. Use pots with a minimum 40cm diameter and fill with pebble ballast for maximum stability.

Bar and counter accents: Our faux kiku arrangements in stone or ceramic vases work beautifully on bar counters and dining tables — they add a considered floral detail without the wilting, pollen and daily replacement cost of fresh flowers. A good quality faux arrangement on a restaurant table reads as intentional rather than a cost-cutting measure.

Photography note: Instagram and Google Maps photos of restaurants influence booking decisions significantly. Quality greenery photographs beautifully and makes every corner of a restaurant potentially shareable — real plants in the same positions would require constant grooming to achieve the same photographic result.

Best plants: Medium faux olive trees or ficus 120–160cm for window positions and counter areas; compact plants and arrangements for smaller accent positions.

Cafes typically have less floor space than restaurants and more foot traffic per square metre. The right scale for most Australian cafes is medium rather than large — a 160cm tree in a well-chosen pot adds warmth and life without consuming floor space needed for seating. Position near windows where natural light creates the most flattering effect on the foliage.

The most common cafe specification at The Plants Corner is the faux olive tree at 160cm for counter and window positions — its scale is appropriate for most cafe interiors, its Mediterranean character suits the warm, welcoming atmosphere of a good cafe, and its foliage remains consistent regardless of the temperature swings caused by commercial coffee equipment.

Cleaning in a cafe context: Cafes are high-vapour environments — coffee, steam and cooking particulates settle on surfaces including plants. Fortnightly cleaning with a slightly damp cloth maintains appearance. This is significantly less effort than maintaining real plants in the same environment, where humidity fluctuations and poor light in typical commercial positions cause rapid deterioration.

Best plants: One large statement faux olive tree (160–180cm) in the main living area; smaller accent plants in bedrooms and bathrooms.

Airbnb and short-stay property operators have a specific challenge: the interior needs to look aspirational in photography to drive bookings, but it also needs to survive guests who may not care for plants carefully, cleaning turnarounds between stays, and extended periods of vacancy between bookings. Real plants are a liability in this context. Faux plants are the obvious solution.

A well-chosen faux olive tree in the living room of a short-stay property adds the kind of considered, lush styling that drives positive reviews and justified premium pricing. Research from Airbnb consistently shows that properties with styled greenery photograph better, achieve higher star ratings and command stronger nightly rates than comparable properties without it.

What guests won't break: A quality faux olive tree in a heavy fibrestone pot is essentially indestructible under normal use. Guests cannot overwater it, cannot knock it over easily if the pot is heavy, and cannot neglect it to death during a week-long stay. Between-stay cleaning of the plant takes 5 minutes. The total maintenance input over a year is less than one hour.

Our recommendation for Airbnb operators: A Faux Luxe Olive Tree 180cm with our large fibrestone pot as the main living room statement, with a compact faux plant in each bedroom and a faux kiku arrangement on the dining table. This combination creates a consistently styled interior at every photography angle and adds meaningfully to the perceived value of the property.

Best plants: UV-rated faux olive trees 150–210cm in heavy concrete or fibrestone pots with ballast.

Pool areas and outdoor commercial spaces in Australia require UV-rated faux plants only — the combination of direct sun, reflected UV from pool water surfaces and outdoor temperature variation will degrade standard indoor faux plants within a single season. UV-rated varieties maintain their appearance for 5–8 years in these conditions with monthly cleaning and twice-yearly UV protectant spray.

Heavy pots are critical outdoors — commercial outdoor spaces typically experience higher wind exposure than residential balconies, and a tipped plant in a pool area presents a safety hazard as well as a visual one. Use a minimum 40–50cm diameter concrete or fibrestone pot and fill completely with pebble ballast. A fully ballasted large pot in an outdoor commercial context should require deliberate effort to move.

Our outdoor faux olive tree guide covers UV-resistant varieties, wind-proofing techniques and maintenance schedules for all Australian outdoor positions.