Plant renting takes root in Bengaluru's workspaces

It eliminates the recurring costs of buying new plants and makes disposing them convenient, business owners say

In Bengaluru, long-term rentals are not limited to furniture, appliances, and fitness gear – indoor plants are being rented too. This demand is emerging from office spaces and restaurants, as buying plants often leads to recurring costs when they die due to a lack of proper upkeep.

Those in the business say rentals, typically on one- or two-year contracts, turn out to be more cost-effective since they include maintenance, replacements, and, in some cases, planters as well. Service teams visit anywhere from daily to once every 10 days for upkeep, which includes cleaning leaves, wiping planters, fertilising, pest control, moving plants outdoors for sunlight, replacing damaged ones, and even refreshing the set to match changing decor at no extra cost.

Established companies, as opposed to bootstrapped startups, mostly opt for plant rentals, as office greening is often among the lowest priorities in their budgets, some say.

Parthasarathy, proprietor of Terrassic in R T Nagar, says the advantage of plant rentals lies in the service and convenience they offer. “If you buy 200 plants at Rs 150 each, that’s a one-time cost of Rs 30,000. For a two-year rental, you would pay Rs 8,000–10,000 a month for the same set. However, you wouldn’t need to hire a dedicated horticulture team to care for them,” he says. He currently has five clients who have rented between 200 and 500 plants.

Hebbal-based Doorplants Services has about 25 corporate clients. “Companies prefer fixed budgets and transparent costs. They don’t like surprises. When you buy plants and they die, replacements become a recurring expense. On the other hand, rental contracts ensure plant longevity through regular monitoring, maintenance, and replacement,” says founder Ranganath.

At The Green Yard in HSR Layout, nearly nine out of ten clients choose rentals, and many continue for over four years. Co-founder Sakthi Venkat says contracts typically end when companies relocate, reduce floor space, move to co-working offices, or shut down. In such cases, plant disposal falls on the rental staff, from arranging transport vehicles to logistics personnel, responsibilities clients would otherwise have to manage if they owned the plants. Rentals can also end when office management changes. “Some like real plants around; others ask for artificial ones,” Ranganath explains.

Myna Batavia, founder of Green Carpet – The Garden Centre in HSR Layout, says plant rental is a delicate balance between cost and value. For instance, she often visits restaurants to assess spaces and recommend suitable plants. “Some plants spread out, so you can’t place them where people sit. Others are used near sunny windows to reduce heat. Low-light corners need specific varieties that can thrive there,” she explains. Even planter shapes matter: rectangular ones, for example, help optimise space in high-footfall corridors.

Varieties in demand

Sundari Ishwar has been in the plant rental space for decades. She is currently associated with The Association of People with Disability (APD), whose horticulture wing rents out plants while providing employment to people with various disabilities. “Earlier, we had fewer varieties of dracaena, aglaonema, and philodendron. Now, there are many types of these, along with sansevierias and scheffleras. There’s variation in colour, leaf size, and how busy they grow (thanks to modern propagation techniques). There’s also demand for miniaturised varieties such as anthuriums and palms. And with newer office buildings designed to let in more sunlight, even sun-loving and flowering plants can now be kept indoors,” she says.

Earlier, plants were sought mainly to enhance aesthetics in closed spaces. Now, they are being valued for their oxygen-producing and wellbeing benefits.

Parthasarathy receives the highest demand for money plants and areca palms, with larger plants like rubber plants typically required in bosses’ cabins and cafeterias, and smaller varieties placed elsewhere. Meanwhile, Myna has seen rising demand for snake plants, dracaena varieties, brassia varieties, fiddle-leaf figs, ZZ plants, and philodendrons.

Opportunities and limitations

Plant rentals, some of the interviewees believe, have an unexpected impact. According to Myna, seeing plants stay healthy and thriving, thanks to regular maintenance, helps sustain people’s interest in them. Conversely, when plants die or droop, people tend to lose interest. Ranganath shares a similar view, adding that the success of plant rentals and the accompanying maintenance support can help them persuade clients to order more.

However, plant rentals may not work in all scenarios — for instance, when a client has an in-house gardening team. For Sakthi, it’s also challenging when clients seek customised planters that must perfectly match the space’s aesthetics, down to the flooring.