How to Make Fake Plants Look Real

Fake or artificial plants look better than ever these days. And there are lots of reasons to use them in your home or office. They require less care (almost none--except dusting), they won't die (you're in really bad shape if they do), they won't fall over and get dirt all over the place, and your cat can't eat them.

But you have to be creative and savvy when using fake plants. Here's how to make them work in your space.

Buy fake plants that look real. These days there are shops devoted to selling artificial plants and they do look alive. There is some real ivy that looks artificial anyway, so why not buy the fake thing? Find fake plants that are potted in a material that looks like dirt. Forget those straw fillers that are usually scream, "fake!"

Put several fake plants together in one space; this makes them appear more real because no one would believe you would go out and buy a bunch of fake plants and put them together. Frankly, one isolated fake plant is more suspect than several fakers sitting together.

Place your fake plant in an appropriate place that regular plants grow--such as in a window sill. When you see a flowering plant in a dark bathroom or basement, the intelligent person will think, "That must be fake." Even someone not so swift is liable to think that.

Buy fake plants that are appropriate to your climate. A banana tree on a deck in New Hampshire is a dead giveaway that your plant is, well......dead.

This is a really good one: Mix in fake plants with live plants in the same area. The fake ones can be used behind or next to the real ones to fill out the space, and many of them will blend in very well with the real ones.

Mess up the fake plants a little. Many of them come very full and even and perfectly arranged. Real plants don't look like that--except in the plant store. Real plants grow toward the sun. So take your fake plant and bend some of the stems (most of the stems are somewhat flexible) toward the sun. That will really make your fake plant take on some reality.

Take some dead leaves from your real plants and place a couple near your fake ones-either in or around the pot. That can be a good fooler.