They expanded the sets partway through the season. (After the first five or six episodes, when they finally took the break they'd postponed after filming "Wilson's Heart" just in case there was an actor's strike.) They've filled the space with additional furniture, and probably that's when the plant showed up too.

He needs a scenery change so much, that they remodel the entire length of the floor for him to make his office bigger? (Office now including a coffee table in front of the couch, more plants and a third movie poster, all resulting in House's two offices having to movie 3 meters down the hall. My guess any change in Wilson's office is not due to having the character making changes in his life by redecorating, but simply by the crew having more space to fill with interesting looking stuff to make it look pretty. :wink: ETA... or what Namaste said. I just type too slowly.

But why can't both be true? They expanded the sets (for whatever behind-the-scenes reason) and within the story they had Wilson follow through with the plant.

Just saw this again. "I'm not sure we ever were." still makes me cry.