Frugal silk plants? Or real house plants?

[john63401]

Im a bachelor......

Ive been toying with the idea of buying a few silk/fake plants for decorating inside of home a bit.

Damn those plants seem expensive to me tho!!

Im wanting fairly good size fake palms.... or fake "trees"....and prices seem to run abt $150 or so

It seems to me I can buy REAL palms and plants much cheaper than the fake ones.

Does anyone have ideas on how to get frugal fake plants?

Or should I forget the fake ones and just get some REAL ones??

If replying via email please use:

morris63401 at yahoo dot com

[Persephone]

Why were you thinking of fake plants?

Be honest with yourself -- and us.

[jrstark]

Shop around, make sure you check Walmart too. I recently bought a silk spider plant for my no-natural-light office. I paid $3 for it, and then while looking for a container saw the same or smaller plant elsewhere for $7 and $15.

Janine

[Phisherman]

[john63401]

Cause Im afraid I would kill real plants.... and that they would require more care.... i.e.creating "one more thing to do everyday".

But like I said fake plants seem VERY high

-

If replying via email please use:

morris63401 at yahoo dot com

[Persephone]

You'll get plenty of advice on this NG, but you might also want to visit a good neighborhood nursery. They'd be best equipped to advise on what works in your area. Be sure to tell them where you plan to put the plants in your dwelling -- how far from window; amount and intensity of light; the kind of indoor heating you use, etc.

Rest assured you are not the only apt. dweller who has indoor plants! They do dress up a place, don't they! Massing plants in an area is especially attractive, rather than just putting one here and one there.

And you may find you grow fond of your new "children", and enjoy making them happy!

[Allview]

I'm thinking silk also. I've had a nice ficus benjamina in the corner of my window room for years and it has done well, but this year it was too heavy and unwieldy to take outside for the summer. It is getting bigger and I am getting older. I saw a nice silk tree at Hobby Lobby for $79.

Marilyn in Ohio

[john63401]

Well I think they do...even tho I have none right now. lol

that's a good idea I hadn't thought of.... massing all the plants in one spot

[dr-solo]

1. paint your walls something besides white... dont leave the ceiling white. If you cant paint, look for wall hangings even material glued to a rod can work wonders
2. corner etageres can hold collections of interesting things
3. make a corner vignette use a cushy stuffed chair and table, with a torchiere behind it. put a couch at an angle to the corner and put the torchiere behind that and a table holding a smaller real or fake plant.
4. get a real or fake large plant and use a can up light to put shadows on the wall and ceiling, it doubles and triples the size.
5. combine real with fake plants so there isnt so much to take care of. Cyperus is like papyrus. It does really well in one of those big oriental looking ceramic containers with some light. even a nice hanging light with a round fluorescent lights. just fill it with water every week or so and will do great. this is a great time of year to find them at water gardening places... they are on sale in the north cause they wont over winter outside. Ingrid

[e-mail] wrote: . I have some corners and space that i

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

[simy1]

I have over thirty houseplants (like to have good air quality during the long winters here). Here is my experience

low light tolerance: sansevieria, peace lily, dark dracaenas, and pothos. Schefflera has some tolerance, and I also have another plant whose name escapes me that tolerates low loght rather well drought tolerance: sansevieria, light dracaenas, some palms, rubber plant, aloe, and schefflera

You can keep healthy plants indefinitely if you put them outside in the summer, in partial sun or bright shade. some burn in full sun, but sansevieria, schefflera, palms or rubber plant take full sun. Once you have a few, it will be easy to propagate and divide them, and get more of the same.

[Persephone]

Just curious why you are advising against white walls -- actually off-white is more aesthetic. In a dark apt. white reflects light, which would be helpful to the plants. A white ceiling gives the illusion of greater height; another aesthetic consideration.

...snippage...

[john63401]

Yeah I am curious abt that as well

[john63401]

Well that's the debate Im having with myself.... whether fake or real plants are better for me

Hence my posting here to get some feed back.

[Shepherd]

Only YOU can know the answer to that question.

Shepherd

[John]

Hey all....

I read somewhere that Palms are usually NOT successful growing indoors. But that if one was going to try a Palm you should get a Bamboo palm.

Is this true?

If yes..... I cant seem to find any Bamboo palms locally. All I find are "Areca" palms and Majesty palm

I know that Majesty palms typically die indoors... but what abt these Areca palms? What are they?

[dr-solo]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Frogleg]

Do you want plants as decorative accents for your own enjoyment or are these to be viewed and assessed by others? That is, if you're happy with the look of fake plants (and some are *very* realistic-looking), shop around for some modestly priced fakes. Be aware that some visitors may admire your decor and after examination say, "oh, artificial. Hmmm." Real plants *do* need some care beyond dusting. And they need varying amounts of light. Growing a real tree-sized plant indoors would be tricky. Often large plants seen in offices or malls are 'loaners' from companies that grow/keep them in ideal conditions most of the time and rotate into businesses for a month or so. You might try buying a few real plants to see if you can keep up the maintenance.

[Peter Jason]

I have a fake cat. This pussy is very house trained.

[Peter Jason]

It's time to get real. For a pittance you can purchase MURALS which have plants, palms and even a beautiful sunset with buxom beauties. This gets all the clutter off the floor. Why not check out:

[me63401]

EXCELLENT idea!!

Thanks!

John