The Best Plants to Buy for Perfectly Styled Shelves

A beautiful shelf should contain more than just books or knick-knacks, especially if it is on display in a prominent room in your home. To ensure that your shelf is wonderfully styled and has a pleasing visual interest, display your favorite items and photos alongside some fresh greenery. 

Snake Plants. Also known as mother-in-law’s tongue or sansevieria, these low-maintenance plants are striking and hardy, making them the perfect shelf plant for anyone lacking a green thumb. These plants are forgiving if they’re forgotten about for periods of time—and while they prefer indirect light, they will tolerate a lot of lighting conditions. This makes them ideal for a shelf space that doesn’t see a lot of sunshine.

Pathos Plant. A classic houseplant that anyone can care for, a pathos plant’s beautiful cascading leaves makes it a wonderful addition to any shelf space, particularly for bookshelves with multiple layers. Allow the vines to waterfall down from shelf to shelf to create extra visual interest and add much-needed cheer and visual interest to an otherwise stodgy bookshelf. The best part? Pathos plants are adaptable to different levels of light and only need watering every few days, making them easy to add to any shelf space.

Orchid. An admittedly finicky plant, orchids have a reputation for being a little high-maintenance and even a bit fickle. However, if you can forgive their demands and manage to keep them in good shape, orchids will reward any shelf space with a delicate and sophisticated beauty. This makes them the perfect addition to a shelf in need of a more classic and refined touch.

ZZ Plant. The Zamioculcas zamiifolia, nicknamed the ZZ Plant, is a glossy and bold beauty. Fans of the trendy fiddle leaf fig tree may find themselves in love with this vertical growing plant with an equally vibrant dark green leaf. These plants are suited for a wide range of light and smaller spaces like shelves since they grow upwards and outwards without becoming overwhelming.