Caring for the office’s finicky Ficus is now a thriving industry

Do you ever wake up screaming, haunted by the ghosts of all the houseplants you’ve killed?

Plants can prove harder to manage than even the worst employees: Too much water — dead. Not enough light — dead. An hour late on the fertilizer? Super-duper dead.

And in the return-to-office tug of war, it’s the poor, forgotten fiddle leaf figs that are left to fend for themselves in icy cold AC.

But now, businesses are bringing plant caretakers to the office. As The New York Times puts it: It’s like HR… for plants.

• Greenery NYC designs and maintains plant installations for its clients.
• Also in New York, My City Plants installs and cares for office plants, helping clients choose greenery that will thrive in their space.

These companies, beyond installing and maintaining plants, also offer design services to beautify office spaces.

Greenery NYC — an offshoot of a six-figure retail business — supplies plants for clients such as Etsy, Bank of America, Netflix, and Google.

It’s all part of a growing trend

Research shows that even small doses of nature can help employees feel happier and boost performance.

And people don’t just want to be surrounded by greenery at the office — companies that sell houseplants are also thriving:

• There’s The Sill, a popular site that’s helped make plants modern, trendy, and ecommerce-friendly.
• Bloomscape lets customers shop for everything from pet-friendly plants to full-grown trees.

Plus, living walls and indoor farms are having a moment in the grow light.

With the blooming industry…

… come workers eager to get their hands dirty.

Greenery NYC has seen a rise in applications, and Brooklyn Botanic Garden has experienced increased interest in its horticulture certificate program, which now has a waitlist, per NYT.

And there might even be a hot new job title hitting LinkedIn soon: Nick Cutsumpas, AKA Farmer Nick, has dubbed himself a “plantrepreneur.”