Gardening is always a mystery area to me. Unfortunately, I don't have the green finger gene runs on my mom and all my aunties.

OLD POST November 2013

I'm not a fan of fake anything, full stop.

I mix faux with a small bunch of real in the same vase - looks great - but theres nothing to beat a bunch of real flowers they make a home look well cared for

Great idea to mix real with fake, especially if you have a large display or a flowerbed.

The health and environmental benefits of real plants outweighs any convenience of artificial plants. With homes sealed for the winter or during warm weather with AC, toxins build up leading to poor air quality. House plants are a great exchange for oxygen and carbon dioxide to maintain a healthy living environment. Silk flowers are lovely accents to a home considering sun, humidity and maintenance is more complex with a flowering plant. However, many artificial plants especially for commercial use are treated with flame retardant chemicals and, in my opinion, should be avoided to maintain a healthy home .

I personally prefer real flowers, although in certain circumstances artificial works out better!

I love real flowers/plants, won't use silk/artificial flowers/plants (even in high places), but some dried arrangements are very nice and I don't mind them at all. They add a very specific decor tone. Actually, I recently chose dried for my laundry room as I have decorated in sepia photographic prints and silver/galvanized metal décor. Goes very well with white/silver trim washer/dryer and my cabinet hardware. It's lovely and I do enjoy the scent of the dried flowers/leaves, something different in that part of the house.

I love my artificial arrangements - but no flowers - ornamental grasses. Flowers gather dust and become filthy quickly - so unless you use compressed air on them weekly - they'll be trashy in six months.

Minus the hubby hiding a vacuum there - I love floor vases with grasses or just 2-3' high grass - in an additional 1' tall vase on a coffee table - counter - etc. Peacock feathers in a vase make a great centerpiece as well.

I prefer having fresh flowers in my home. There's something about fresh flowers that makes your home more peaceful and warm.

//moises

Nothing beats real flowers. I prefer the more expensive silk ones and absolutely love glass flowers if done properly to make a statement and not just put in a vase.

I love fresh flowers and have a husband who loves to give them to me. But, I also love my cat. There are so many flowers, especially Lillies that will kill my little guy so I use silk or tested dried flowers and only have real roses(in which the cat seems to have no interest) and ferns as many Rose fillers are also feline toxic.

No. Just No.

Never.

fake orchids are ok, as long as you keep them dusted. real ones look fake anyway.

For my home, fresh only. Having said that...if one can't keep the flowers fresh...then fake is better feng shui than dead...

Well let me say... If you have a source for artificial that is stellar, then by all means you need to use them. The quality that has embraced the artificial world has been anything but fabulous. The vendors have worked extremely hard to replicate Mother Nature. While we all would like to have certain products in certain places, well that's not always how it works out. We improvise. IF you had a source that actually mimics Mother Nature then you wouldn't be so ..... Not sold on artificial.
Just like anything....you can buy from one extreme to another... You have to know where to go to get the best.
Nova Collection
132 Cole St
Dallas, Tx 75207
214-747-6682

Always real plants..

I would have said no way to fake until I saw Marks elegant arrangement. So now,Yes ,but don't over do.

Real plants for sure

Personally I love and prefer real flowers and plants but sometimes they are not in season. Silk flowers, plants and arrangements have come a long way and some are so beautiful and real like, so "yes" to silk. What I don't like is cheap plastic ones=0)

Very sparingly and well made/expensive

I love and prefer real flowers and plants but sometimes used artificial plants in off season.

If you love artificial plants/flowers : https://www.veronneau.com/en

I won't have fakes in the house, and I particularly hate when people put fake plants in places where they couldn't possibly grow (light-loving plants in dark corners, up too high to ever be watered, etc.). That's a clear sign that they are fake and just draws attention to their fakery.

Prefer real - would rather go without if real plants not available. For those who do use fakes remember that just like anything else- too much is overbearing!

MLM

Fresh are always lovely but not always practical for me. I always have an orchid plant that is blooming in the kitchen window. I have very real looking peony stems in my bathroom that remind me of my childhood yard. I also have a pretty silk lily stem in honor of my grandmother, Lily.

Always better to have real flowers but they're not always practical. It's too expensive to have real flowers all the time, so if they look real or you can put them somewhere not accessible to people so you can't tell it's fake then all the more fake flowers for me :)

No to fake plants and flowers! They are so ugly!

I use beautiful silk flowers to make my floral arrangements for my house since I have cats. Cats are notorious for getting into your plants and sometimes, eating them even when the plants are bad for them. Better to have healthy cats than taking a risk of them getting sick on real plants!

If you go with high end products you will get high end results. A really cool use of artificial or preserved natural plants can really make a design pop. My company makes preserved natural boxwood topiaries, palms, birch trees, olives, bamboo, reeds etc. We also have moss products which are very current right now.

The cheap stuff from China will always look cheap and fake, but there are products such as the ones we make that are hand made in the USA and look very real... they will last a lot longer too, and the good stuff has Inherently Fire Retardant materials, not found in the cheap stuff from Michaels.

If you are looking for high quality real looking trees and plants for your designs please keep us in mind. www.treescapes.com Our trees are higher end museum quality.. and we can do any size from Bonsai to full size.. and for outdoors too if you have a spot where are real tree cannot work.

Of course real flowers and real plants!!! The others are weird dust collectors!!

Am allergic to most green things so I like the judicious use of some faux plants,

Usually prefer living plants, preferably in hanging baskets at the windows, and do keep about a dozen of them throughout the winter as well as some larger plants in larger pots -- snake plants, aloe, holiday cactus, etc. I move most of the hanging baskets and all the larger pots outside in spring to brackets on posts in the east side of the yard or to on or near the deck just after the last frost because that is where they thrive. I'll re-pot them -- removing soil that may have living things in it and use fresh potting soil to replant them just before bringing them in before winter.

I do, however, still have that cluster of fabric sunflowers in the same vase I put it in over a decade ago because I still like both.

Honestly, I would vote "both" if it was listed as an option. I prefer living plants, especially beautiful orchids, to add a natural element and a pop of color when needed in a space. You also get the "clean" smell of living plants or the sweet aroma from live florals, like I get from my orchids. In some instances of designing for a client, fake plants and florals are better suited for the space and client's dedication to upkeep. When selecting, I make sure the fake plants and florals are as realistic to a living plant as possible, making it hard to tell it's even fake to begin with!

I SAY real PLANTS AND FLOWERS

Fake flowers can be a great option if you love the look of flowers but don't exactly love the maintenance.

Real flowers if you can conveniently replace them from your yard, fake flowers if they are quality looking.

All plants are dust collectors, even live plants. The drawback with live.. watering/irrigation, soil/dirt in the house, potential for bugs/mold, plants die, and shed leaves. Spiders can be hiding in the soil, leaves or stalks, many house plants are toxic for pets. A good quality artificial plant has none of these drawbacks. There are many that look very real.

Real flowers and plants only. Don't like fake stuff.

I say that if you want to add life to your space without crunching your budget, or
if real flowers aren't an option, consider using artificial flowers in
your decor. However I've used both for my clients.

Check our my website here!

I love my real houseplants, wouldn't have them any other way. I don't find it that difficult to water all of them, pretty much on the same schedule. If i could afford fresh flowers 2x monthly it'd be great. We can't but, we don't replace with fake. The best part about fresh is the part where my husband surprises me with them, occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, except he "thought of " me today and I don't care they were 2 for 5$ at the grocery store. It's the thought that matters, and it matters, alot.

No one needs fake flowers! They are so ugly!

Real flowers and plants bring joy and life to a room. It is worth the time spent on them.

Can be both. Depending on your preference. I have faux flowers in my living room and bedroom side tables and I love them. And those are not cheap either. They look really nice and looks great.

I've always thought fake plants were lazy and kinda of boring. But some artificial plants could be considered "art".

I very limited use of fake plants can be ok, but more than 2 or 3 in the house and it just looks silly and collects dust.

I don't know, they've changed a lot. For instance we got these and they're gorgeous

Fake where water damageis feared or daylight is low. 1 or 2 mixed in with real plants can be nice. Plants vs Flowers and remember DUST them! nothing worse than dusty fake flowers sitting in the corner of the room covered with spiderwebs. If you have real plants they should be trimmed and in nice pots, preferably ones that match in colour and go with your interior colours. Too many overgrown plants look messy.

We have a housefull of real plants. My husband feels we live in a jungle, and my friends call it plant-porn, which I love. But two things; a. in our one bathroom with no windows, I use fake because it actually looks odd to be so plant-bare, and b. I once heard a clip of Oprah talking to Nate Berkus about this and they scoffed at the idea of ever having fake flowers in the house. It's a "don't do". Well that's all well and good for the wealthy to constantly have bouquets of fresh flowers, but many people can't afford such a thing and shouldn't be shamed for bringing in beauty where they can. If it makes them happy- by all means.