I love gardening, in fact it’s a passion with me, but indoor plants seem to defeat me and die on a regular basis. From neglect! Why is it that I will happily spend days outside lavishing TLC on my garden plants but can’t be bothered indoors? Who knows, but whatever the reason faux house plants and flowers are a godsend. There is so much choice now and they look so realistic, why continue to persecute myself with my failures?
I still have a small selection of real plants that I nurture – ‘mind your own business’ is a must as it reminds me of my gran, and a few succulents that are easy to care for, but in the main I rely on faux plants for impact. Ferns shrivel and die within a week for me so I now have a few fabulous fake specimens to really create impact in my garden room and to give it a slightly tropical feel. I still buy fresh flowers every week and cut them from the garden, but I have a really large vase at the back of a shelving unit that I can’t reach easily, so that is filled with a fabulously large bouquet of artificial flowers which I can change every few months when I fancy. So, if you want to simplify your life, here are my 5 tips for choosing faux house plants and flowers, for an ongoing fabulous display.
1. Choose Hard to Care for Varieties
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Ferns are hard to keep alive as they require moist shaded conditions, which isn’t necessarily where you want to display house plants, so they’re a great option to go fake with. One large faux fern with lots of lush foliage will make such an impact. Whereas cacti and succulents are easy to keep looking good, so go real.
2. It’s Not all About the Seasons
If you’re not fussy about having things only when they’re in season and you want to be able to see your favourite flower year-round, then go faux, like tulips for example, which are my favourite flowers (but they have such a short flowering season) so I have artificial parrot tulips to be able to enjoy their colours and form for longer.
3. Don’t Overlook Foliage
Buy artificial foliage stems – it’s great for having around the house to bulk out real bunches of flowers. That way you are just paying for the flowers and always have delicious faux greenery to fill out your bouquets.
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4. Cheap is Not Always Best!
You’re paying for an investment piece when you buy faux flowers and house plants, so cheap is not always best. If you want it to look realistic you need to pay a bit more – you get what you pay for – and you don’t want it to be immediately obvious that it isn’t real. We have just changed our artificial eucalyptus stems, and they are a slightly more expensive version, but much more realistic.
5. Go Big for Maximum Impact
We do like a bit of drama at MiaFleur and our new faux zebra grass house plant is certainly that. It’s big, and it’s stripy, and it’s a real show stopper, which you can only do when you fake it. Maximum impact for maximum drama! And no worry that it might suddenly die on you!
To sum up the faux versus real dilemma, just mix it up. It’s a no brainer really, and cheaper in the long run. The more the real and the artificial are mixed up together the less you can tell which is which, and your friends and family will think you have fabulously green fingers and will want to know your secrets.
Any tips of your own to add to the list?
Jacqui x
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Photography: Amelia Brooks/ Styling: Jacqui & Amelia Brooks
