8 artificial plant arrangements that will fool your guests

Plastic over fabrics

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Artificial plants used to be made from wire and fabric – silk, to be exact. Remember those dust-gathering silk flowers on a porcelain vase in your grandparents’ house? Steer clear from those if you’re looking for realistic-looking fauxliage.

Plastic fake plants are your best bet to get the most realistic look, as most of them are moulded from actual real-life plants.

Choose those modelled after hardy, waxy plants with that natural plasticky quality to begin with, like aloe, snake plants, fiddle-leaf figs and succulents, including cacti.

Pay attention to details

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Real plants are irregular and organic growths are messy – that’s the beauty of natural plants. Look for the artificial plant with details that mimic this.

Check the joints between leaves, the way the branches split, and the overall colouring.



Avoid gimmicky finishes like water droplets, which may look great for a few days, but you might hate them in a few weeks, and steer clear of repetition and uniformity, especially with patterned leaves.

Style them up

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With the right styling, even the most basic artificial plants have the potential to be convincingly realistic.

Treat your fauxliage as you would real plants; invest in suitable vessels to match your interior.

Better than real plants, since they don’t need watering, you can practically choose any vessels without worrying about drainage holes and getting the materials wet.

Change the vessels and placement of the plants as often as you need to freshen up your space.

Size and proportion matter

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The size and location you plan to put your plants are paramount with both real and artificial plants.

Tall plants with planters are great for filling out narrow corners, and individual artificial stems are great for table and surface arrangements – you can even fill the vessels with water for a more convincing effect.

Strength in diversity

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Remember the “real plants are messy” tip above? Create an organic garden look by mixing up the types of the artificial plants.

This is especially effective when you want to create a lush vertical tropical garden (think of Gardens by the Bay’s lush Cloud Forest vertical walls).

Arrange it so the most fake-looking plants are placed at the base or as fillers, and larger, more realistic-looking ones take centre stage.

Faux as fashion

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Not all artificial plants need to look like the real ones.

If it fits your interior, go to the other end of the spectrum and choose fantasy fauxliage that are proud of their man-made nature, like Christmas trees made of ostrich feathers, a topiary painted in one colour and an artificial lawn to add extra greenness to your space.

Dried foliage

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You can’t kill them if they’re already dead and preserved beautifully. Dry foliage and floral arrangements bridge the gap between real and artificial plants in terms of maintenance.



They’re especially great for shabby chic and rustic aesthetics – two of the most popular interior styles on Pinterest. Our humid tropical climates, however, make it easy for them to grow mouldy, so take care to always keep them dry.

Layer with scents

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Artificial plants can add biophilic touch indoors like real plants, visually speaking.

Take it up a notch by adding natural ambient scents near it to reinforce the effect, so you can get that natural tranquillity even when you are miles away from a real garden.

This article was originally published in Home & Decor.