About us
Hi, we’re Plants for Friends.
A San Diego plantscaping team that designs, installs and looks after real plants for offices, hotels, dealerships, homes and staged listings. It started in 2021 with one plantaholic helping her friends. Today it’s more than 200 projects.
San Diego · Orange County · Los Angeles
“Hi, my name is Katya and I’m a plantaholic!”
Our story
It started with friends who couldn’t keep a plant alive
Katya has been finding, arranging and caring for houseplants since she was a kid. Watering and cleaning them is still how she unwinds. She studied international business and spent years traveling, and the plants waited. Then she moved to San Diego and saw how well houseplants grow here.
What she also saw was people who were sure they didn’t have a green thumb. Some of her friends had given up and bought artificial plants. So she started helping: picking plants that would actually thrive in their rooms and showing them how to look after each one. In 2021 that help became a business.
It was a hard year to start. The pandemic sent demand for houseplants through the roof while growers had cut production, so there was little stock for a newcomer without supplier connections. Katya drove from nursery to nursery before each project, taking whatever she could find. She also loves big plants, rubber trees, fiddle-leaf figs, birds of paradise, dracaenas and tall cacti, and at 5′2″ she needed a partner for those. She found Miguel, who had already spent more than 20 years in plantscaping, and with his experience the company could take on projects of any size.
Today Plants for Friends designs, installs and maintains plants for offices, research campuses, hotels, dealerships, homes and staged listings across San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles, with more than 200 projects since that first year.
Katya told this story to SDVoyager in June 2021.
Our projects
A few of our favorite spaces
How we work
The same process since the first project, whether it's one plant or a whole build-out
The space comes first
A walkthrough before anything is chosen: light, scale, conditions, existing furniture and style, assessed in person.
Design & sourcing
Plants and planters picked for what we saw and for your vision. Want a specific plant, or to keep planters you already own? We work them in.
Your sign-off, then installation
Nothing goes in until you have approved the plan. Then our own team delivers and places everything.
Ongoing care
Optional maintenance on a schedule, covered by our standard guarantee.
What we do
Five kinds of spaces, one team
Offices Design, installation and scheduled maintenance for offices, research buildings and corporate spaces, including Bristol Myers Squibb’s San Diego campus. See Offices → 
Residential Design and installation for homes, matched to your rooms, light and the way you actually use them. See Residential → 
Hotels & restaurants Lobbies, dining rooms, bars and lounges, with service scheduled around your guests. See Hotels & Restaurants → 
Auto dealerships Interior plants for showrooms, customer lounges and service areas. See Auto Dealerships → 
Home staging Real plants for staging companies and realtors, matched to each listing and timed to your showing schedule. See Home Staging → Our standard
If a plant doesn’t thrive, we replace it. At no extra charge.
Every plant under our care is covered by our standard guarantee. It’s the same standard whether the account is a single office suite or a full commercial build-out.
Reviews
What clients say
Left on Google by the people whose spaces we look after.
★★★★★
Our experience with Plants for Friends was nothing short of transformative. … What was once a relatively sterile environment now feels like a lush oasis of greenery and tranquility.
Dan U
Google review
★★★★★
Beautiful plans and arrangements. Exceptional service and collaboration. Highly recommend!!
Mary Haragely
Google review
★★★★★
Plants for friends is amazing! … All of our plants are thriving!
Catie
Google review