Fake plants in garden

[N12345625]

I am not really into gardening and every time I plant seeds, bulbs or flowers they seem to die. I was just wondering if anyone has ever put fake plants in their garden? Did it look OK? How long do they usually last before they go discoloured? Thank you for any advice!

Yes lol. My nanna did this for years and put pots of fake flowers in her front garden. The sun damaged them a lot and they faded but she still bought new ones every summer. Brought a nice memory back.

What are you planting that means they die? If you are buying annuals these are only meant to last a year.

Biennial for a couple of years and perennials will last longer than two. If you plan them carefully you should be ok. Look out for hardy perennials!

All the ones I see look awful. Some houses near me have plastic shrubs, hedges, grass and plants in pots. They stand out a mile. Better to have nothing.

If you can get really decent ones and they won't be seen up close then they can look ok. Lots of window boxes for example get planted up with fake box plants and you can't tell because you don't get close enough. Lots of the plants you see in hotels/restaurants/offices are fake but good quality fakes so that they don't fade etc.

You need to look for those that say they are resistant to UV fading. They don't come cheap though.

I think if you have a garden predominantly full of the real deal a couple of fakes can be easily hidden. If you predominantly have fake stuff it’s obvious, clearly you then need to only allow anyone to see them from a distance as sighing a few feet and you can tell.

I would also say it can be quite tacky to have a garden of fake stuff. I think if you’re elderly, or in some other way can’t manage the garden then it’s fine. But not really past that, it then moves into tacky.

Maybe it would be better to focus on asking how you do grow stuff to make sure you’re successful

For me plug plants work best, growing from seed is hit and miss. As a pp said, it depends on what you buy, how long they last.

I think if you have a garden predominantly full of the real deal a couple of fakes can be easily hidden. If you predominantly have fake stuff it’s obvious

Agreed.

I have a big garden full of real plants but have been looking at fake plants for the upstairs window boxes which are very difficult to access.

My MIL did this once.
I am a very keen gardener and could tell straight away they were fake.
Utterly awful looking imo

They might look a bit like graveside memorials.

Hmm, plastic plants sounds pretty awful to me, but I understand how disheartening it is when plants die. If it helps, I consider myself a fairly skilled gardener - my dad was a horticulturalist so I have been doing it all of my life - and I estimate my failure rate to be over 50%! Success is often just a case of finding what works for your garden, and letting those plants thrive. Plants are quite fickle in my experience. Some however are much more likely to be successful, and if you can get a few reliable shrubs established it'll give you encouragement. If you'd like some suggestions, let me know

Do whatever you like it's your garden!
But I personally think it looks ridiculous when there is a flowering wisteria in November.. or something of the like 😂