BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Budget Decor Artificial flowers

I've been thinking about artificial flowers today and how they get a bad rap. You know how some people look down on artificial flowers like they are substandard or something? What about ceramic flowers made by "artists." Or bronze replicas of flowers? Or paintings of flowers? To me, the people who make some of the silk and other artificial flowers qualify as artists, too.

Just a thought.

I have seen some beautiful silk arrangements and I love all of the pretty wreaths that are made with artificial flowers. I also recently saw a silk vine topiary and I couldn't tell it was not a real vine.

I saw a show on HGTV about the top ten design errors in a home and they listed artificial flowers. I think tho that a nice silk flower arrangement can really add to a room's decor so I disagreed with them on that one.

The silk flowers I don't like is when someone puts them in an outdoor planter and they get all faded looking. In the house tho, I think they can be beautiful.

I know what you mean about the outdoor use of artificial flowers. I've even seen some people put plastic flowers in with what's growing in their foundation beds. That's bad enough, but when the plastic fades, ughh. This is also done sometimes in graveyards around here. Don't get me started on that one!

Although I do like silk artificial flowers, most of the plastic stuff drives me nuts! There are a few exceptions.

The only time silk flowers don't bother me is in a wreath, and then they have to look very natural.

My grandmother sticks fake flowers in her front flower beds now. She got tired of all the work involved with gardening. Really she does still have the ability to garden, she just doesn't want to. My mother pointed out that if someone is driving by quickly and is just looking from the corner of their eye it might look real! My mother would come put real annuals in for her, but my grandmother doesn't even want to water them. As two serious gardeners we find this somewhat exasperating, but it's my grandmother's house so whatever makes her happy.

I don't own any, but do like when you see flowers in a vase made of ceramic or glass. Those can be very pretty and they never look natural. I think silk flowers have gotten a bad rap. They can be done very realistically, but then the cost goes up very quickly. I have made wreaths of dried hydrangea flowers for my house. Those always turn out great.

I have used fake flowers in the past for decoration but stopped because trying to clean them is a pain! I also like the scent of the real flowers in the house.

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avas, welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your stay!
Rosie

I was going to say that fake flowers are nice as long as they are not dusty! there are some beautiful ones around and they keep getting more and more realistic.

To clean dusty silk flowers, you can stick them in a ziploc bag with baking soda and table salt and shake shake shake. When you're done., shake them clean.

I don't mind nicely done silk plants either, but plastic flowers, ick!

I'll go a step further, Lisa. Just stop by Walmart by the silk flowers section and purchase the spray that cleans silk flowers. This is an effective spray that works well, should you like silk flowers. To me, nothing is more effective than using the real thing but to each his own. Happy harvest everyone!

I didn't know there was a spray. What is it? I'm a label reader,I wonder how a spray could remove dust, I'll have to check it out, thanks for the hot tip!

Hi, Lisa. I forgot the name of it as I have not used it for a long time. (got rid of all the fakes) but it is in the aisle with the silk flowers. You can't miss it. Get started cleaning 'cause before you know it, the relatives will be stopping in for Thanksgiving. Happy harvest everyone and be sure to stop by and learn how to make your spring garden extra colorful. Bye!

In defense of silk flowers I have 3 arrangements throughout the house, none of them are overwhelming but rather muted colors that add texture to an otherwise dull area. They were also done by a very talented professional that I know (I myself have tried and they look AWFUL when I am done with them).

On another note, the other night my husband and I went to visit some friends and the guys were playing their new Wii. Well Kris had an arrangement of beeswax flowers on her table and WHACK!! All over the place. She just laughed and said you are supposed to be able to heat them up and fix them as good as new -- well, we will see. So just a lesson - no articifial flowers on the tennis courts!

Sarah

Believe it or not, with silk flowers, I often take the arrangements apart and, holding the flowers by their stems, give them a few fairly hard shakes to get rid of the dust. I've even whacked them against my hip. Once in a while, a leaf will dislodge; but, so far, the damage has been minimal. You can usually tell where something came off and put it right back in that spot. I've also successfully tried rinsing them, but that's more time consuming; and it only works if the stems are plastic.

Of course, you do this at your own risk. I'm not guaranteeing you the same results!

Artificial flower is looking beautiful.It's looking view ia fantastic.They are used in beautiful silk arrangements, decorative home's and pretty wear.

I must admit, my lack of a green thumb results in my having very beautiful silk flowers in my office at work. Michael's sells very nice ones. I do get a lot of compliments on them.

Artificial flowers have come a long ways. A lot of them today look so natural. They do fade outdoors in the sun, but if people buy several of them, then they can replace them when they get to looking bad. I don't hardly see the plastic flowers anymore so this is good. Some silk ones are just beautiful.

I love flowers and you know what? Silk can look just as beautiful if not better in some cases.

I love to do flower arrangements and back in the day I used to enter contests that specialized in Gladiolus. I loved them but they were hard to work with at times and they have a short life.

I totally agree PJK56. It's very important to swap them out when they start to look dusty/dingy or when a different look is needed.

[quote=ThomasWilliams]Artificial flower is looking beautiful.It's looking view ia fantastic.They are used in beautiful silk arrangements, decorative home's and pretty wear. [/quote] Yeah, Artificial flower is one kind of home decoration gadgets . In this science-flourish world, artificial flowers are looking more like real ones, if you put them it the real flower groups, you can't find out which one is the counterfeit .

Is silk flowers are just as pretty, and you know sometimes a person can't tell the difference.

I have a lot of silk flowers in my office. My coworkers think they look very pretty.