When it comes to styling your house, no matter your design choices or taste in décor, the addition of greenery is integral to make your home a space that’s welcoming, full of life and effortlessly stylish. From hanging a draping plant in a corner, to using lush greenery as a dining table centrepiece or placing a tall piece of flora beside the couch, there’s plenty of ways you can add a pop of green to your house to create a homey, fresh and happy atmosphere. 

That sounds easy enough, but when it comes to choosing foliage to include in your space, how do you know whether to opt for real or artificial plants? Long story short, they both have their advantages and disadvantages, and what you should choose is largely dependent on your personal circumstances, design preferences and living space, so keep reading to find out exactly what is best for you! 

Now, before I jump into the specifics let me address a burning question… are indoor plants really needed in your home or are they just trendy to have? Well, I’m here to tell you that while it may appear to be a trend, there’s actually many benefits to having indoor plants in your house, like their ability to fill space and add a touch of refreshing colour, but we’ll do another blog post specifically on this topic at a later date (if you have a desire for more, you can read this article we’ve already done). For now, let’s explore the pros and cons of both real and artificial plants. 

Pros and Cons

Looks

Level of Maintenance

When it comes to the amount of time and attention needed to care for them, real and artificial plants are like chalk and cheese! The level of maintenance required is the biggest constraint when it comes to real plants. It takes a great deal of time, effort and resources to keep them alive and thriving. From frequent watering, to the amount of sunlight, occasional repotting, a bit of fertiliser and keeping the bugs away, there’s plenty of things to think of and do to make sure they stay healthy, green and perfect for your space. And just to make it more confusing, the level of care required depends on the type of plant you have. While some people love the challenge and routine of caring for their plants, not everyone has a green thumb, so the idea of incorporating indoor plants into your house that require this much work may seem daunting, and, in some instances, simply impossible. But that’s where faux greenery comes in! With very little maintenance required, fake foliage is perfect for those who don’t have the time, means or ability to keep up with the maintenance of real plants. Unlike real foliage, artificial greenery is mess free (no soil or dropping leaves!), doesn’t require watering, sunlight, or the other forms of maintenance that real plants do. They are guaranteed to stay alive and green with almost zero attention. In fact, the only thing required to keep fake plants looking well cared for is the occasional dust or wipe down. How good is that?!

Costs

As I said earlier, to get a real-looking, high quality artificial plant, you may face a much higher price than if you were to buy a real plant. While the upfront costs of fake foliage may seem pricey, in the long run it’s set to be cheaper due to no maintenance costs. When it comes to real plants, not only do you have to buy the plant itself, but over its lifetime you’ll likely be required to purchase pots, potting mix, fertilisers and insecticides, among other things, to keep your plant flourishing. And then of course, there is the possibility of having to buy new plants if things… well… don’t go as planned (we’ve all been there, don’t worry!). Fake plants, on the other hand, are durable and guaranteed to survive after the initial purchase cost.

Placement

The Verdict

So, should you choose real or fake plants for your home? Well, that’s entirely up to you to decide based on your personal preferences and circumstances, but we hope that these tips and insights can help you make the right decision for your space. 

Here at Foxy, we always use fake plants when staging a home for a number of reasons – there’s no one to maintain the greenery onsite, we transport the plants regularly so need the mess free option, and they look just as good as real plants without the hassle, among other things.