Anyone use fake plants/flowers outdoors?

[Wheetsin 714]

So it's that time of year again. I love putting out my pots, and while I don't love gardening, I do enjoy the visual rewards. Petunias, wave petunias, begonias, portulaca, snapdragons, mandevilla, vinca, you name it. Between our front yard, side patio, back deck... I usually put out something like 25 pots of flowers, most of them good sized. But the maintenance on them sucks, including basic watering which can take well over an hour for that many pots, so normally they look nice until Julyish and then go downhill fast, even though there's a lot of life (normally) left in the plants.

So... I added it up and between flowers, top off soil, fertilizers, stimulators, etc. I spend at least $500 on getting real flowers out there. For considerably little less, I can buy decent looking fakes for the pots, and not have to do any maintenance, plus if they don't sun fade in the first 2 days I can just keep the pots planted, move them into the garage during winter, and boom, next spring instant potting done for me. Did I mention no maintenance?

But is this just going to win me the "WTF were you thinking?" award? I don't think I've ever seen fakes used outdoors, and if I have, I certainly didn't know it. So - who out there does this? How do they hold through the sun/storms?

[blahblahblah 4]

I live in a very deer populated area...and they eat EVERYTHING except dafodills and peonies...

There are a number of folks in our neighborhood who put out plastic plants...and there is no way anyone notices...they look gorgeous!

I don't put anything out because I can't be bothered with worrying aobut the stinking deer.

Go for it! If you hate them this year, then you'll buy fresh again, next year.

Rainer

[Daisalana 33]

I knew some people who used them, and I honestly didn't know till they told me. They still planted them, mulch, etc.. so unless I touched them (or actually they just told me), I wouldn't have known. I think as long as you get good quality, and the kind that could withstand weather!

[Ang1982 4]

I actually like your thinking - I love the look of outdoor plants, etc but I HAAAATE gardening or plant care or anything of the sort - my mom is a total green thumb and I am a complete "meh" when it comes to plants I could care less - like the looks hate the care.

I say give it a shot, worst case you end up giving it a go this summer and end up going back to real ones next year and you're no farther behind.

[Daisalana 33]

That's why I planted... annuals (right? the ones that come back?). I planted last year, and they are gargantuan right now.. overflow onto my sidewalk. And all I did was plant them, I have an.. opposite of green.. thumb. Even the little cacti I tried to keep in my office is dead.

[Gone4Now 4]

I had neighbors in VA who would plant fake flowers in the ground...and then leave them there all winter. I didn't notice until it was time for them to die... and they didn't! They would also put out the wrong flower/plant for the wrong season.

But, I'm with you. I hate maintenance on them, and I'm willing to try it, too! I think if you choose the right plant for the season, you could really have a lovely "garden".

[Wheetsin 714]

Oh, our landscaping (hardscaping, or whatever they call the permanent landscaping) is maintenance-free. To the nth degree. We have only shrubs, bushes, grasses... a small decorative tree. And all of them define their own shape, we don't even have the ones you need to really prune or shape. And when that is needed, we hire someone to do it. I'm all abut no maintenance.

(annuals lifecycle lasts one growing season, so you have to keep up with them, perennials come back until they're done).

I revisited Hobby Lobby an hour or so ago, picked up some fake geraniums, "spikes", etc. I still need to get more, they didn't have a huge selection. We'll see how they look in the pots, it's hard for me to visualize it looking anyting other than cheesey.

[Wheetsin 714]

BTW, this is hard for me. I was raised a plant snob, by a plant snob, but have no ways with the greenery of my own. Two plants, ever, have lived in my house. Everything else met a very quick demise. Of the two that lived, I ended up euthanizing one, and the other is still ticking along but looks really sad... very sparse. Nothing like it should look.

For the longest time I wouldn't even consider a fake plant in my house. I mean - as if - right? When your mom can grow anything and make it perfect, you don't grow up with them, and they're something "those people" keep (and then you become one of "those people" and hey, they're not that bad...)

I liken it to a brilliant artist friend of mine. He scoffs at me for buying prints to hang on my walls. "Why not just paint something yourself? Why pay money to hang someone else's art? There's no purity in that." When he wants a picture of the cityscape with this particular palette, he just whips it out and it's perfect. He doesn't understand that 98% of us can't do that, and that if it weren't for others' work we purchased, our walls would be decorated at best with dirty handprints, dings and scratches.

[Jachut 487]

We've got a really modern style garden, all strappy leaved, native type plants, and we're in severe drought here. We dont have a lot of lawn, we've elected to go for huge garden areas that cover most of our front yard. But we're seriously considering fake grass for what we do have. There's some awefully good fake turf out there now, and it does look fake because in Melbourne at present, the ONLY way you'd have a green, weed free lawn is if its fake. So its a dead give away. But it still looks better than crispy brown dead grass and weeds. We're not allowed to Water lawns AT ALL.

And I got rid of the plants out under the pergola years back because I didnt have the time or money to keep doing them seasonally, but I"m considering a few fakes too - agaves and similar which are very believable.

I'd buy one or two, like maybe do a pot either side of your front door and just see how you live with it before investing a whole lot. It might really bug you, or you may think they look great.

Lol, over the years I've become one of "those people" in so many ways. My toffee nosed private girls school education is losing its shine. I have some fake plants, I drive a family wagon, I shop at shhhhhh, Target and I even own some cubic zirconia jewellery! And I own NO original artwork at all. Its all prints.

Edited April 21, 2008 by Jachut

[Scarlett O'hara 0]

I think its a great idea in small doses!! If its over-done, then its noticeable. Gardening is not on my list of fav.'s either!! I plant a couple new Hostas (?) every year, they are hearty and take up lots of space (= less weeding). I have that opposite green thumb thing too!

[Shalee04 7]

That's why I planted... annuals (right? the ones that come back?). I planted last year, and they are gargantuan right now.. overflow onto my sidewalk. And all I did was plant them, I have an.. opposite of green.. thumb. Even the little cacti I tried to keep in my office is dead.

Fairy, I believe you are thinking of Perennial plants, They come back for years and yes save us a ton of money and back breaking weeding time.

My new obbsesion is my yards, I figure I'm not eatting out 2 times day anymore so I spend alot of my $$ at Lowes and Home Depot these days.

[Daisalana 33]

This is the first yard I owned, so I actually gardened for the first time. I was leery since I killed any plant that ever came in my house in the past. I am fond of indoor fake plants actually, I have tons. I bought a couple more last night for my new office.

Perennials is what I meant then, I never remember which is which!

Let go of the plant snobness and enjoy the beauty Take pics of the outside for inquiring minds, if my faux green thumb ever fails, I may end up doing the fake ones!

[tapshoes 2]

For me, gardening is a therapy, a way to be artistic (that I certainly cannot replicate on canvas) and to feel connected to my farmer heritage (corny, but true). I moved into this house 8 months ago, and have been itching and twitching to get out and 'play in the dirt'! This weekend was the first chance, and I have been enjoying it immensely! I don't like grass, and with each year, I try to replace it with natural groundcovers - much less maintenance, Water, and more variety. Every house I have ever owned has been a gardeners delight - I need a yard and my gardening tools to be at home!

I am not fond of artificial however if seasonally appropriate high quality ones are used they are fine. I hate to go by someone's house and see a strategically placed pot of daffodils 'blooming' with lillies when there is a foot of snow and icicles hanging above them. Like plastic flowers in a cemetary in winter - another pet peeve of mine.

So put out the pots, and the splash of colour they provide and enjoy the time outside!

[KristeyK 8]

Take it from someone who has six or seven neighbors who do the fake plants thing....

DON'T DO IT!!!! Unless you're willing to spend a LOT of money on things that look like they belong there and change it up seasonally, or when the weather beats them up they're going to look BAD in a few weeks.

One thing I can suggest to you is this: I have seen kits at Lowe's that are drip systems for potted plants. Heck, you can even buy a regular system that will work off of your hose bib and you can put the individual emitters into the pots, turn on the Water and leave them be. That's what I did when I was an apt. dweller living in downtown Phoenix. (Trust me, if I can get petunias and tomatoes to live through a summer in Phoenix, it'll work where you're at too.)

[green 6]

I think that cheap fake flowers are the best. I love it when they fade from the sunlight, get dirtier and dirtier and are still sadly blooming in January. Fake birds, flamingoes if you can get 'em, will add to the charm. These gardens are often the most interesting and are a lovely thing to plant if you live in a conventional neighbourhood.