Flowers add so much to a home, without question – style, warmth, colour, texture, individuality and tranquility. But they are expensive, they don’t last very long, they need maintaining and many of us are susceptible to allergies, making it unrealistic to fill the housewith beautiful blooms.
Fortunately, there is an alternative – the quality of artificial flowers has come on in leaps and bounds over the past year and there aresome really impressive silk, foam and plastic options that are practically indistinguishable from the real thing. Here are 16ideas for usingartificial flowers around your home and garden for year round colour and cheer without the sneezes, fuss or mess.
1. Artificial flowers andfruit
A vase of artificial flowers will last forever and only needs the occasional dust, but why not take the look a step further and add something into the bottom of the vase? Either go for the traditional options (stones, glass beads, coloured marbles, sand) or for a really different look, fill the vase up with fruit – apples (above) or lemons (below) make a brightly coloured and unusual display.
Because the flowers have plastic stems, there’s no reason why you can’t still eat the fruit when you’re ready!
2. Artificial flower rockery
Garden rockery plants tend to look dull and sparse, especially in the UK where we don’t get much sunshine and rockery soil is often poor quality. For year round cheer, opt for plastic plants on the rockery – they’ll always look fresh and bright, and you’ll never have to worry about watering them or protecting them in long hot summers or freezing cold winters.
3. Artificial flowers wall decoration
On a plain wall, artificial flowers can make a beautiful and bright display. These can be hung in strings as in the above photo, or attached to the wall as in the photo below.
If you’re worried about the damage to the wall, attach them to a board that can be easily refreshed or removed at a later stage.
4. Patio pots
Many gardeners opt to put their blooms in patio pots through the summer. These offer a way of keeping spreading plants under control, keeping the plants away from many pests and allowing the pots to be moved indoors in the event of an unexpected frost. Although they look fantastic, they require a lot of maintenance – constant watering, feeding, deheading and spraying when the pests descend. Artificial flowers are a fantastic alternative – there is so much variety on the market and the quality of them is such that you can’t tell them apart from real flowers. You can buy full plants to create amazing displays like the one above, and use them year on year without any additional cost.
5. Artificial flowers mixed with dried grasses
Although a bunch of artificial flowers can look amazing, mixing them with dried grasses, trees and plants can create a far more dramatic effect. It also bulks out the display to give it even more realism and of course, there’s no maintenance needed!
6. Artificial flowers in a row of vases
Why have just one vase when you can have 10? This lovely colourful display only requires a few artificial flower stems, making using of artificial grasses to bulk out the display (which keeps the costs down).
7. Artificial flowers in rustic old/unusual containers
Because artificial flowers don’t require any water, you can put them in anything! That means you’re not limited by pots with holes in the bottom or ones that are made from porous material (like wooden crates). Let your imagination run wild!
8. Artificial flower hanging baskets
Add some cheer to the outside of your house with a artificial flower hanging basket. The quality is amazing and you really cannot tell that the flowers aren’t real unless you go up and touch them (and even then some people aren’t sure).See our full article on faking your hanging basketswith loads of ideas for choices.
9. Artificial flowers in window boxes
Window boxes are another lovely touch to the front of the house which looks fantastic but unfortunately requires so much maintenance that it can feel like too much effort. But with artificial plants, there’s no watering, feeding or deadheading, so you can enjoy abeautiful display season after season, year after year.
10. Artificial topiary
Topiaries give a house a real sense of class but they are perhaps the most difficult of all plants to keep looking good! No more – these amazing artificial versions are perfect for the non-gardener – they come ready assembled and require no maintenance, looking fresh and ‘trimmed’ all year round. You can buy special versions that can be hung on iron hooks next to doorways, or the type that are suitable for sitting in pots on the patio like these:
Click here to view all of the different topiaries you can choose from.
11. Artificial flowers above the fireplace
A string of blooms in a garland around the fireplace might not look too natural but it does add a lovely warm touch to any lounge. These also look lovely around large mirrors and picture frames, and can be used to trim the edges of shelves and cabinets. Click here to view a wide range of garlands.
12. Artificial flowers on the headboard
Again, it might be obvious to visitors that your beautiful flower garland wrapped around your headboard isn’t real, but it adds a lovely cosy touch to your bedroom as well as colour and interest.
13. Artificial flowers woven through a balustrade
If you have a ballustrade, whether indoors or outdoors, a delicate garland of artificial flowers adds a pretty cottage/summer touch. Wind them up the stairs or through railings on a patio or balcony – most are fade resistant and built to be long lasting so you’ll have a lovely display come rain or shine for years to come.
14. Artificial flower curtain/screen
Bright blooms make an eye-catching alternative to a door curtain, window dressing or room divider and by stringing the flowers together yourself, you can choose whether to go for a bold, statement look (as above) or subtle, understated look (as below).
15. Curtain flower tie backs
Here are three pretty ideas for using artificial flowers to create unique tie backs for your curtains. These cost very little and add a lovely floral touch to the room which will last forever.
16. Floating artificial flowers
A display of floating flowers in a glass bowl or attractive container always looks stunning, but they don’t last long and as the flowers are directly in contact with the water and start to deteriorate, the smell can be very unpleasant. Artificial flowers are a great way of recreating a floating flower display without this problem, and the most you’ll have to do is change the water now and then to keep it from going stagnant.
You can get an incredible range of artificial flowers for indoors and outdoors – click here to view it.
