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!