Do you yearn to live in a leafy green utopia? Maybe you’re currently buying your first home, either outright, or on a shared ownership or rent to buy scheme. Is your dream to have plants on every surface and trailing from every ceiling.
Do you imagine yourself basking serenely in your plants’ tranquility? Admiring them as you walk around your home, gently tending to their needs.
Or is your reality more along the lines of, if you don’t kill your plant via neglect, they’ll get killed by your cats or kids instead?
If you’re in the ‘I can kill plants just by looking at them’ category, you’re not alone. Never fear though, there are fabulous fake and artificial plants around that look just like the real thing.
Artificial plants come with many benefits over their natural cousins. Let’s have a look at a few of these benefits below.
You don’t have to wait for fake plants to grow
Plants are expensive, especially big plants. You can of course grow a plant from a seed or cutting, but they take years to grow to full height. Even if you manage to keep it alive that long, you might be bored with it by then.
Artificial plants come in all shapes and sizes. So, if you simply must have a massive Monstera but don’t have the funds for one that’s already grown and you haven’t got the patience to wait years for one to grow, you can buy an artificial one for much cheaper.
Artificial plants don’t die
This may not strictly be true, as I’m sure a determined cat, dog or small child could quite easily do enough damage to a fake plant that the only thing left to do with it is put it out of its misery and toss it in the bin.
On the whole though, fake plants are hardy souls. They’re certainly hardier than natural plants. Natural plants are fussy buggers that wilt and die if they’re not looked after properly.
They’re low-maintenance
If you’ve ever owned a natural plant, you’ll know they can be demanding. Food, water, lots of light, not much light, a medium amount of light, repotting, pruning… the list goes on.
Seriously, all you wanted was a plant to brighten up your living room and then you find out you actually have to look after the thing.
Artificial plants don’t require any of that high-maintenance nonsense. Stick a fake plant wherever you like and, even if you forget about it for three years, it’ll still be fine when you remember its existence (albeit a bit dusty, perhaps).
Artificial plants are safer for humans and animals
Plants can be a danger to humans and animals. Firstly, there’s the skin-splintering spiky plants such as cacti that need to be kept away from little hands.
Then there are plants that can be harmful to humans with allergies. There are also many indoor plants that are toxic to your pets if they eat them.
We’re not suggesting you should feed artificial plants to your pets or children, but at least they won’t get ill if they give them a bit of a lick.
As you can see, there are loads of benefits to having artificial plants in your home. Fake plants are not only attractive and almost impossible to tell apart from the real thing, they’re cheaper, low-maintenance, safe to have around and will make your house feel like a home.
