Artificial Flowering Plants

Potted flowering plants and loose blooms sit together here. Potted forms include peace lilies at 50 and 95 centimetres, phalaenopsis and butterfly orchids from 35 to 66 centimetres, and 40 centimetre lavender. Loose forms cover 30 centimetre rose stems, 45 centimetre rose bunches, 25 centimetre lilac and 50 centimetre English lavender stems. Hanging bougainvillea at 90 centimetres and a flowering wisteria at 180 centimetres cover the larger positions.

The words describe the same thing, though shoppers tend to use fake flowers for loose stems in a vase and artificial flowering plants for potted forms like an orchid or a peace lily. Both are in this collection. The practical distinction worth making is not the term but whether a bloom is UV resistant, since that is what determines how a colour holds in an Australian room.

Untreated ones do, and quickly. The UV resistant products in this range, which include the rose bunches at 45 centimetres, the 30 centimetre rose and jasmine stems and the 25 centimetre lilac, carry inhibitors within the petal material rather than on the surface. Reds and purples are the first tones to shift on untreated blooms, so check the UV rating before placing anything on a sunny windowsill.

Orchids, for the same reason people try living ones there and lose them. The 35 centimetre single stem phalaenopsis in a decorative pot fits a vanity without crowding a basin, and the 65 centimetre multi-stem orchid suits a wider ledge or a windowsill in a main bathroom. Steam and low light make no difference to either, and there is no bark medium to spill.

Flowering plants are supplied as complete potted pieces you place as they are. Stems are individual components sold to be arranged, and the wider selection of foliage stems, ferns and trailing vines lives in the stems and ferns range. This collection carries flowering stems specifically, such as the 30 centimetre roses and the 50 centimetre lavender.

A single 45 centimetre rose bunch usually reads as a full arrangement in a medium vase, since the bunch already carries multiple heads. Working with single 30 centimetre stems, six to nine gives a natural density in a standard vase, and a bud vase needs only one or two. Cut nothing to length until the arrangement is standing, and stagger the heights rather than levelling them.

The UV resistant hanging products can. The 90 centimetre bougainvillea in pink, lilac and white and the 28 centimetre petunia basket are built for verandahs, pergolas and covered balconies, positions where a living flowering basket needs daily watering through a Melbourne or Brisbane summer. Bring hanging pieces in under shelter during severe wind.

Shake loose dust from the heads first, then work over the petals with a soft brush or a hairdryer on a cool setting, which is gentler on layered blooms like the roses and orchids than a cloth. Reshape the petals afterward with your fingers. Arrangements that have reached the end of their life can go back through the Designer Plants artificial greenery recycling programme.