The Best Back-to-School Accessory Might Be Alive

New notebooks. Fresh pens. The perfect water bottle. A backpack that somehow has more pockets than anyone could possibly need.

Back-to-school season has always come with a list.

But this year, we’d like to add one more thing:

A plant.

We spend a lot of time thinking about what belongs on our desks. Maybe we should spend a little more time thinking about what our desks give back to us.

Because whether that desk belongs to a college student, a teacher, a teenager doing homework, or a parent finally returning to a little more routine, it is a place where we ask our brains to do a lot.

Focus. Create. Solve. Remember. Respond.

A living plant asks for something entirely different.

It asks you to notice.

To touch the soil. Turn toward the light. Add a little water. Watch for something new.

And for just a moment, your attention moves away from a screen and toward something living.

A Different Kind of School Supply

We don’t think a desktop garden should replace the good pens or the new planner. We love those too.

But there is something wonderful about starting a new season with something that will grow alongside you.

A new leaf becomes a tiny marker of time.

A watering ritual becomes a reason to pause.

And a desk that can easily become a place associated with deadlines, homework and overflowing inboxes suddenly has a little life on it.

Maybe the best thing on your desk isn’t something that helps you do more. Maybe it’s something that reminds you to pause.

The Original Growth Mindset

We talk a lot about having a “growth mindset,” especially when school begins.

Plants may be the perfect reminder of what that actually looks like.

Growth isn’t always fast.

It isn’t always visible.

Sometimes you need more light. Sometimes you need a little water. Sometimes you need to prune what isn’t working. And sometimes, despite doing everything right, you simply need more time.

Sound familiar?

There is something reassuring about having that lesson quietly growing beside you.

Give Your Desk Something Living

So while you’re checking off the back-to-school list, consider adding something you won’t find in the school-supply aisle.

Something alive.

Something that changes.

Something that gives you a reason to look away from the screen, even if only for a minute.

Because this season isn’t only about getting back to school.

It’s about getting back to routines, back to learning, back to focusing—and hopefully, back to making a little room for ourselves along the way.

This year, put something on your desk that reminds you to grow, too.

Want to Dig a Little Deeper?

We believe in the way a little bit of nature can change the way a desk—and a day—feels. But you don’t have to take our word for it.

There is a growing body of research exploring what happens when we bring nature into the places where we work, learn and spend our days—from attention and stress to productivity, well-being and the simple benefits of interacting with something living.

If you’re curious about the science behind the green, here are a few of our favorite reads:

The Relative Benefits of Green Versus Lean Office Space: Three Field Experiments
Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, researchers studied what happened when plants were introduced into previously “lean” offices. The studies found improvements in workplace satisfaction, self-reported concentration and perceived air quality, along with productivity findings.

Interaction with Indoor Plants May Reduce Psychological and Physiological Stress
Published in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology, this study compared a computer task with actively tending an indoor plant. Participants reported feeling more comfortable, soothed and natural after the plant-related task, and researchers also observed differences in physiological measures associated with stress.

Nurtured by Nature — American Psychological Association
A broader look at the growing research around our relationship with nature and the potential benefits for cognition, mood and emotional well-being.

Because sometimes the best reason to put a plant on your desk isn’t how it looks.

It’s how having something living nearby can make you feel.