Most corporate gifts have a short life. The wine gets drunk, the branded notebook slides into a drawer, the hamper is gone by Friday, and by Monday nobody remembers who sent it. Corporate plant gifts break that pattern. A living plant or tree sits on the desk, grows a little every week, and quietly reminds the person who received it of the company that thought of them.
That is the whole case for corporate plant gifts: they stay in view, they keep growing, and they keep your name in the room long after the moment has passed. This guide is for anyone choosing a year-round gift for clients, staff or partners who wants something people keep rather than bin. We will look at why living gifts work, how a grow-from-seed Tree Kit differs from a supermarket desk plant, when to send them, and how to brand them without turning them into forgettable swag.
If you already know you want a gift that grows, you can see corporate Tree Gifts and skip straight to the options.
Key Takeaways
- Corporate plant gifts stay in daily view, so they keep a brand in mind long after seasonal gifts are used up or thrown away.
- Office greenery is linked to real benefits: one field study across UK and Dutch offices found plants raised productivity by 15%.
- A ForestNation Tree Kit is a gift the recipient grows from seed, sprouting in about two to six weeks, not a cut plant that fades.
- They work all year: onboarding, client thank-yous, partnership milestones and team recognition, not just at Christmas.
- Every ForestNation Tree Gift also plants a verified tree in Tanzania, so the gesture contributes to reforestation as well as the relationship.
Why do plant gifts work so well for business?
Plant gifts work because they are seen every day and they keep growing, which holds the giver in mind far longer than anything consumable. A bottle of wine is gone in an evening. A living plant earns a glance every morning, and each new leaf is a quiet reminder of who sent it.
There is also a genuine wellbeing angle, and it is backed by research rather than sentiment. In a series of field experiments across offices in the UK and the Netherlands, researchers found that simply adding plants to a bare workspace increased productivity by 15%, alongside higher concentration and workplace satisfaction. A separate study in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found that interacting with indoor plants reduced stress in young adults. A gift that helps someone feel a little calmer at their desk is a gift that keeps giving back.
ForestNation is a corporate tree gifting company that has helped 500+ businesses plant nearly 2 million trees in Tanzania through verified reforestation. A Tree Gift carries that meaning into a single object on someone’s desk: something alive, something growing, something they choose to look after.
What is the difference between a desk plant and a tree you grow from seed?
A supermarket desk plant arrives finished. It looks its best on day one and slowly fades from there. A grow-from-seed Tree Kit arrives as a beginning. The recipient plants it, watches for the first green shoot in about two to six weeks, and gets to raise something from the very start. That small act of care is what turns a gift into a memory.
The mechanism is simple. You send the Tree Kit, they plant the seeds, and it grows on their desk or windowsill. Each ForestNation Tree Kit is handmade, plastic-free and comes with a growth guarantee, and through the “You Plant, We Plant” model, ForestNation plants a verified tree in Tanzania to match the one they are growing. The gift on the desk is personal; the tree in Tanzania is the contribution behind it. You can read exactly how that impact is measured in the ForestNation impact methodology.
This is also where a Tree Gift pulls ahead of cut flowers or a shop-bought pot plant. Why trees beat flowers as a plant gift comes down to time: flowers are a lovely week, a tree is years.
When should you send corporate plant gifts?
Send them whenever you want a relationship to keep growing. Unlike a seasonal hamper, a plant gift is not tied to December, so it fits almost any moment in the business year:
- Onboarding. A new hire or new client plants something on day one and watches it grow as the relationship does.
- Client thank-yous. A living desk gift says thank you every morning, not just once.
- Partnership milestones. Mark a signed deal or a renewal with something that grows alongside the partnership.
- Team recognition. Reward a project win or a work anniversary with a gift that feels personal rather than processed.
- End-of-year gifting. Stand out in a season of wine and chocolates with the one gift still alive in February.
If your search is specifically seasonal, our guide to Christmas plant gifts covers the festive angle. For everything else, a plant gift works precisely because it ignores the calendar.
How do you brand corporate plant gifts without turning them into swag?
Brand lightly and let the gift carry the message. The fastest way to make a thoughtful gift feel like an advert is to stamp a giant logo on it. A better approach is a small mark of who sent it plus a genuine, personal note, so the recipient feels thought about rather than marketed to.
Every ForestNation Tree Gift can pair with a digital Gift Story: a short, personal message that lands with the gift and explains the tree behind it. Keep the words plain and specific. “Thanks for a brilliant year working together, here is a tree to grow into the next one” beats any slogan.
If you are ordering at volume and want your brand on the kit itself, that is a different job. Custom, logo-branded runs are handled through custom branded Tree Kits, which keep the grow-your-own experience while carrying your identity across a whole campaign.
Imagine your client planting the seeds you sent, watching the first shoot appear on their windowsill, and thinking of your company every time they water it. That is what a corporate plant gift does that a gift card cannot. When you are ready, you can send your first Tree Gift and start a gift that keeps growing.
A tree grows slowly and a relationship grows slowly; a gift that honours both is one worth sending.
Research and References
- Nieuwenhuis, M., Knight, C., Postmes, T., and Haslam, S. A. (2014). The relative benefits of green versus lean office space. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. psychologicalscience.org
- Lee, M. S., Lee, J., Park, B. J., and Miyazaki, Y. (2015). Interaction with indoor plants may reduce stress. Journal of Physiological Anthropology. link.springer.com
- ForestNation impact methodology and Working Trees field study. forestnation.com/impact-methodology
Frequently Asked Questions
What are corporate plant gifts?
Corporate plant gifts are living plants or trees given to clients, employees or partners as a business gift. Unlike consumable gifts, they stay on the desk and keep growing, which keeps the sender in mind over months rather than minutes. ForestNation’s version is a grow-from-seed Tree Kit paired with a personal Gift Story.
Are plant gifts suitable for corporate gifting all year round?
Yes. Because they are not tied to a season, plant gifts suit onboarding, client thank-yous, milestones, recognition and end-of-year gifting equally. A living gift works in June as well as December.
How long does a ForestNation Tree Kit take to grow?
Seeds typically sprout in about two to six weeks after planting, depending on the species and conditions. The recipient plants it themselves, which makes raising it part of the gift.
Can corporate plant gifts be branded?
Yes, and lightly is best. A small mark of who sent it plus a personal message keeps it feeling like a gift. For logo-branded orders at volume, ForestNation offers custom branded Tree Kits for campaigns.
Do corporate plant gifts really help the environment?
Every ForestNation Tree Gift funds the planting of a verified tree in Tanzania, contributing to reforestation and community livelihoods. ForestNation measures this through its field-based impact methodology rather than making neutrality claims.
What makes a plant gift better than a traditional corporate gift?
A traditional gift is used up; a plant gift keeps growing. It stays in daily view, carries a personal message, and turns a one-off gesture into an ongoing reminder of the relationship.
