As organizations formalize their commitment to health, wellness, sustainability, and employee experience, many turn to building standards such as WELL and LEED to guide workplace design. These certifications help project teams think beyond aesthetics and evaluate how spaces support people, performance, and long-term environmental goals.
While mechanical systems, materials, daylighting, energy use, and operations play major roles, one element is often treated as decorative rather than strategic: plants and interior landscaping.
When planned intentionally, workplace plants can support biophilic design, occupant well-being, restorative spaces, and a stronger connection to nature. For architects, interior designers, sustainability consultants, developers, and workplace leaders, plant programs can become part of a broader certification-aligned design strategy. For facilities managers, they become an important part of maintaining that strategy after occupancy.
This guide explains how plants support WELL and LEED certification in the workplace and how to design plant programs that align with green building standards.
WELL Building Standard
WELL is focused on human health and well-being. Its concepts include Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, and Community. Plants most directly support the Mind concept, especially through biophilic design, restorative spaces, and access to nature. They may also support the overall experience of light, comfort, sound, and perceived indoor environmental quality.
LEED Certification
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is focused on sustainable building performance. It considers energy, water, materials, site impacts, indoor environmental quality, and innovation. Plants can support LEED through biophilic design narratives, indoor environmental quality strategies, sustainable site features, and innovation pathways.
Plants are rarely a standalone compliance item. They do not replace strong building systems, responsible material choices, daylighting, ventilation, or performance documentation. Instead, they help project teams strengthen the human experience side of WELL and LEED by making spaces feel healthier, more restorative, and more connected to nature.
The WELL Certification standards include 10 main concepts. Interior plant design most directly addresses Mind.
Plants are well known for their restorative effects, and a deeper connection with nature can support mental health in the workplace. Living greenery can make interiors feel calmer, softer, and more human, especially in environments where employees spend long hours indoors.
WELL specifically addresses the integration of nature and natural elements in its mental wellness standards. Several features are especially relevant to plant programs:
Nature and Place (M02)
Nature and Place is a WELL precondition focused on incorporating nature and a sense of place into the built environment. For workplace plant programs, this means natural elements should be integrated throughout a variety of common and regularly occupied spaces, including conference rooms, seating areas, high-traffic walkways, collaboration zones, and some workstations.
This is where architects and designers play a key role. Plants should not be added as isolated accents after the design is complete. They should be planned into the layout so occupants repeatedly encounter nature throughout the day.
Restorative Spaces (M07)
Restorative Spaces focuses on areas where occupants can step away from work and recover from mental fatigue. One component of a restorative space is the presence of natural elements in an accessible, non-work area.
Plants can help transform quiet rooms, wellness rooms, lounges, and recharge areas into spaces that feel meaningfully different from the work environment. A plant-rich restorative space can support pause, reflection, and stress reduction.
Enhanced Access to Nature (M09)
Enhanced Access to Nature expands the role of nature in the workplace. One part focuses on indoor nature access, such as ensuring workstations and seats have a direct line of sight to natural features or are within close proximity to them. Another part addresses access to outdoor areas or green space that are available to occupants.
This makes early design coordination especially important. If a project needs meaningful access to plants, natural views, or outdoor green space, those elements must be considered alongside furniture plans, circulation, glazing, seating, and shared amenity areas.
In short, plants are not just “nice to have” in WELL projects. They can be an important part of how a workplace supports mental wellness, restoration, and daily connection to nature.
LEED is more performance-driven than WELL, so the role of plants is often more indirect. LEED focuses heavily on measurable sustainability strategies such as energy efficiency, water performance, materials, waste, site design, and indoor environmental quality.
Still, plants can support several areas of a LEED strategy when they are part of a thoughtful design and documentation approach.
Indoor Environmental Quality
Interior plants can support the experience of indoor environmental quality by improving visual comfort, softening hard interior environments, and creating stronger connections to natural elements. They should not be presented as a substitute for ventilation, filtration, daylighting, or acoustic design. Instead, plants should be positioned as one layer within a healthier, more occupant-centered interior.
Sustainable Sites
When a project includes exterior planting, terraces, courtyards, green roofs, or landscaped areas, plants may support Sustainable Sites goals. Depending on project scope, this may relate to heat island reduction, site ecology, outdoor amenity space, or stormwater strategies.
For interior workplace projects, exterior landscapes visible from occupied areas can also strengthen the relationship between inside and outside.
Innovation
Innovation is often one of the clearest LEED opportunities for plant-related strategies. A project may use a structured biophilic design plan, wellness-focused strategy, or occupant experience narrative to show how plants contribute to a healthier workplace.
The key is documentation. A few decorative plants are not the same as a certification-aligned plant program. To support LEED, the plant strategy should be intentional, visible, connected to occupant experience, and maintained after occupancy.
To support WELL and LEED certification goals, plant programs should be designed in parallel with architecture, interiors, sustainability, and workplace strategy.
Considerations for project teams include:
Start with certification targets
Identify which WELL features or LEED credits the project intends to pursue before selecting plants or planters. If the project is focused on WELL Mind, plants may be central to M02, M07, and M09 strategies. If the project is focused on LEED Innovation or Indoor Environmental Quality, plants may support a broader biophilic design narrative.
Map plants to occupant experience
Prioritize greenery where people spend time: workstations, meeting rooms, collaboration areas, reception spaces, lounges, break rooms, focus rooms, wellness rooms, and circulation paths. The goal is repeated exposure to nature throughout the workday.
A strong plant program often combines several applications, such as floor plants, tabletop plants, planter dividers, integrated millwork planters, green walls, moss walls, atrium planting, exterior landscaping, or terrace planting. Different typologies support different design goals, from visual impact to space definition.
Coordinate with light, HVAC, and maintenance needs
Plant performance depends on the physical environment. Light levels, HVAC airflow, temperature, humidity, access, planter scale, and maintenance routes should all be reviewed during design. A plant program that fails quickly does not support a wellness or sustainability narrative.
Plan for documentation
If plants are intended to support certification goals, documentation should be considered early. This may include planting plans, renderings, species lists, biophilic design narratives, maintenance plans, photos, or innovation credit support.
Because WELL and LEED projects involve both design and operations, plant programs should be planned by the project team and sustained by the workplace team.
Architects and interior designers should bring plant strategy into early design conversations, especially when planning sightlines, common spaces, restorative areas, and outdoor connections.
Sustainability consultants should review how the plant program aligns with WELL and LEED targets and identify what documentation may be needed
Owners and workplace leaders should connect plant investment to broader goals such as employee well-being, hospitality, retention, brand experience, and healthier interiors.
Facilities managers should maintain plant density, placement, and quality after occupancy. Removing or relocating plants without reviewing the original design intent can reduce the biophilic impact of the program.
A professional interior plant partner can help bridge the gap between design intent, certification strategy, installation, and long-term maintenance. The best time to involve a plant partner is early, while the architecture, interiors, and sustainability teams are still shaping the workplace strategy.
A plant partner can assist by:
Reviewing WELL and LEED certification targets
Recommending plant strategies that support biophilic design
Assessing light, HVAC, access, and microclimate conditions
Selecting species suited to the workplace environment
Coordinating planters, green walls, and planting systems with interior plans
Supporting documentation for biophilic design or innovation strategies
Providing ongoing maintenance, replacements, and plant guarantees
When plants are integrated intentionally into WELL and LEED strategies, they become more than decoration. For architects and designers, plants help shape experience. For sustainability consultants, they support certification narratives. For owners and workplace leaders, they reinforce investment in well-being. For facilities teams, they help sustain a high-performing workplace over time.
Established in 1983, Natura - Interior Plant Design transforms workplaces with biophilic design. We specialize in interior plant design, indoor plant service, and corporate plant service, focusing on interior plantscaping and green walls to enhance office environments, boost wellness, and increase productivity. Serving major markets across Texas and Florida, we deliver live plants, green wall systems, and holiday decor packages to create thriving environments where people live, work, learn, and play. At Natura, we care for both plants and people within the built environment, reconnecting people with nature through innovative plant solutions.
Serving businesses across:
Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Tampa, Orlando, and Sarasota.