Why can't we have a few potted trees in the mess hall?!

They had a hydroponics bay that they never showed on screen. They talked about it in "Breaking the Ice" when they were addressing the class.

"We have a hydroponic greenhouse onboard where we grow fruits and vegetables, and we can also replicate certain foods with our protein resequencer."

 

Don't you think it's much more in keeping with ENT's frontier submarine feel not to have plants in quarters?

They have movies, popcorn and a dog. That's enough for our boys and girls in jumpsuits.

 

Yea, Porthos already got himself in trouble once by relieving himself on the wrong tree. No point in encouraging him in bad habits on the ship

 

BOOM, there you go. Just put a bench in that sucker, even if it's a cramped space, and have a few nice scenes there from time to time. VOY and ENT felt sterile enough without their dearth of onboard flaura.

 

I think set designers for Star Trek should travel in a motor home for a few months. Then they would grasp the concept of locking things down. Just once I would like to see a scene where someone walks into their room after a battle or a space anomaly encounter and say "Just great. I have to pick everything up again."

 

It does answer the question as to why the crew have so few personal belongings on display in their quarters. Maybe they keep everything in drawers. Their quarters are always very spartan. I assume that bit glass geode type thing Janeway has in her ready room is indestructible or welded to the display stand. Archer has more stuff than most, but a handful of books are easy to pick up.