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When plant designer and consultant Zilah Drahn takes on a new client, the first question she asks isn’t about what kind of plants they want. Since founding her Los Angeles design studio, Plants & Spaces, nearly six years ago, Drahn has lent her green thumb to the swoon-worthy interiors of stars like Emma Chamberlain, Kendrick Lamar, and Victoria Paris.
“It’s about gaining perspective of what the client is looking for, and showing them that plants are a way to bring in a piece of art that’s living,” Drahn says.
She traces her love of nature to childhood hours spent in her mother’s garden—an early connection that quite literally blossomed into a sense of spirituality and, eventually, a business sparked by friends seeking her advice during the pandemic.
“It all happened at once—I was sitting there for probably an hour, responding, and realizing I should be charging my friends,” she laughs. “On the design side,” she adds, “I realized everyone had the same white cylinder or terracotta planters—there had to be more than that!”
Today, Plants & Spaces includes a flagship retail store and studio in East Hollywood, plus a loyal community of plant lovers to match. A quick conversation with Drahn makes it clear why her work resonates so deeply.
“A plant is an amazing conversation starter,” Drahn says. “It lives in your space, feeding off your energy, and giving you life and excitement for growth. It’s way deeper than just a piece of art.”
Ahead, Drahn reveals her top takeaways for designing a blueprint for your houseplants.
Know Your Greenery’s Roots
Knowing about the plants you’re bringing into your home is the unlock to greenery that grows with you and your space for years to come, according to Drahn. “My approach is to give you all the knowledge on what this plant is and where it comes from,” she says. Understanding a plant’s natural environment—its native light, humidity, and growth patterns—can help you determine where it actually belongs in your home. A trailing plant that thrives on forest floors won’t want to bake in a west-facing window. A sun-loving species from the desert might look great in your bathroom, but it won’t love the moisture. If Plants & Spaces isn’t just a text away, a little research goes a long way. Getting familiar with the natural habitats of your plants not only helps with care—it becomes a framework for how you arrange your space around them.
Statement Plant, Statement Space
Drahn encourages her clients to be open to making a statement with one plant moment rather than filling the room with greenery. “When people get one, they want more,” she says of the conversation pieces she helps clients create by, say, pairing exotic trees with vintage vessels, or a sculptural vignette of a trailing houseplant perched atop a pedestal. “Make a weird, cool planter and a weird, cool plant that pair well in the space, the focal point, rather than the couch or the art,” she says.
Make It Personal
One of the things that Drahn finds most rewarding is creating connections between her clients and the plants and vessels they’re bringing into their space. “If someone is not super connected to a plant, I’m like, ‘Okay, this is not the right one.’ We will find the right thing, because you’re going to live with this forever.” One example? A conversation around the client’s cultural background for a recent project in Los Feliz led Drahn to source an antique Chinese planter that reminded the homeowner of one her grandmother once owned. “It was really emotional for her to see it again. We ended up putting it in her guest room, where her grandma comes to stay!”
The Simplest Sunlight Hack
Forget trying to figure out all the rules about direct sunlight or indirect sunlight. Drahn has just one that makes planning for your plants’ light needs beyond easy: “My silly starting question is always, ‘Do you have a window in your house?’ One foot to three feet away from the window is a really good spot for any indoor house plant.”
Plants Hate HVAC Drama
One of the first and most important questions Drahn asks her clients is whether they use air-conditioning or not. “I’m very cautious of where the AC vents are, because that’s also usually the heater vent,” she says. Here’s why that matters: “Both affect moisture evaporation in the soil. So if you’re blasting it, I always tell people, stick your moisture meter or hands in the soil to see how dry it is.” Adding top coverage, like rocks and moss, can help keep plants from drying out as quickly when the AC is cranked up.
The Planter Doesn’t Have to Be a Planter
Drahn admits that “this where a little bit of plant knowledge comes in,” but basically anything can be a planter if you want it to be. “We stage plants in their grow pots inside the vessel,” she says, which allows her to comb estate sales, clients’ own homes, and Etsy and 1stDibs for objects with stories and history—anything in the name of avoiding plain white or terracotta planters. “On watering day, you remove them or there’s a way to stage them within the vessel with a small plastic saucer [for drainage],” she says. Drahn likes to fill gaps between the walls of the grow pot and the vessel with packing paper, and to polish it off with a top layer of moss or rock coverage.