The answer in a nutshell – If you purchase quality silk flowers, arrangements and plants, silk flowers can look just as real as fresh flowers. They will also enhance your home, add exceptional curb appeal and gift you with long-lasting beauty throughout the seasons. Thanks to my partnership with Nearly Natural, I’m sharing my best tips today for selecting, cleaning and enjoying silk flowers, silk trees and silk plants in your home.
Why should you use silk flowers in your home decor?
Years ago, I snubbed my nose at silk floral arrangements. As a nature lover, I thought artificial flowers couldn’t possibly be as good as fresh cut flowers. Clearly, I was way off-base as when you purchase high-quality silk flowers and plants they are not only gorgeous replacements for living plants, they have exceptional benefits, such as:
- Hypoallergenic – if you have seasonal allergies, silk florals and plants are ideal for your home.
- Easy to care for – you don’t need a green thumb at all to take care of a silk plant, just the ability to dust once in awhile.
- Pet Friendly – dogs and cats like to dig in soil, will often chew on house plants or knock over expensive arrangements. Silk plants are generally a better option for homes with curious pets. My indoor cat sniffed a few times at our new florals and went on her way.
- Silks are always in season – whether it’s Spring, Winter or Fall, silk flowers, plants and trees stay colorful and vibrant.
- Long lasting – well-made silks will last many years, some even a lifetime. This also makes them ideal for gifting. Why not give your mom a silk floral arrangement for Mother’s Day that will last her a lifetime rather than a fresh arrangement that will last on average 5-7 days?
- Cost less – in comparison to having fresh flowers throughout the year, a permanent silk flower arrangement will save you a bundle.
- Eco-friendly – Real flowers and plants are often sprayed with chemicals to encourage better blooms and are typically transported by air freight to ensure their freshness. This adds up to a high eco-footprint for fresh florals.
- Durable – unlike fresh flowers and plants, silk flowers and plants are not prone to wilting, tearing or falling apart. If you accidentally knock over a silk flower or plant, there is likely to be zero damage incurred.
Where to find silk flowers and plants
The key to purchasing silk flowers and plants is to find a quality dealer that specializes in artificial plant products, like Nearly Natural. Nearly Natural is the first artificial floral company to hire head designers with years of experience in the live plant industry to curate their silk trees, silk plants, silk flowers and silk flower arrangements. They look to nature for inspiration and as a guide in selecting the best products available, checking for color accuracy and realistic textures.
These are not your dollar store silk flowers. They’re much higher quality silk arrangements. Nearly Naturals may initially cost more than a fresh arrangement, but will look just like real plants and flowers and offer longer durability for potentially a lifetime of enjoyment.
As you know we love to test products prior to offer an honest opinion or recommendation, I added a few Nearly Naturals to our home to get a feel for the quality, how our cat would react and for how the arrangements look in a real-life setting. All the photos used in this article are real-life snapshots of the products in our home setting and as you can see, the results are beautiful!
With our new home, we inherited a lovely spa-like bathroom that was in dire need of some personal touches. Plants are such beautiful decor in a bathroom setting but as you know, they are difficult to maintain in an atmosphere with low-light and often tropical conditions from the moisture and steam of showers. The Succulent And Mini Phalaenopsis In Shell Ceramic is a terrific solution for adding striking detail and a bit of greenery to your bathroom. When I first added the plant, my husband thought it was real and asked me if I expected to keep it alive. That’s 100 percent testimony to the quality of this silk arrangement!
Our dining area is the perfect setting for silk flower arrangements, but I don’t exactly have the budget to upkeep daily florals. Now, with the Cymbidium with Decorative Vase Silk Arrangement, my dining room looks rather regal. Everyone who has visited recently immediately honed in on them and asked where we found such a beautiful, exotic plant. It takes a very close inspection to realize they are silk flowers and not real! If I tire of this plant in my dining room, it will look equally lovely in our family room, kitchen or study.
One area I’m particularly thrilled to add silk flowers to is our outdoor garden. Yes, silk flowers can easily be placed outside! What you want to look for is a UV Resistant silk like Nearly Natural Geranium Hanging Basket. I have two hanging basket areas in our front that I love to fill with plants each year, but always to my dismay, our hanging baskets typically have a short life living only through the summer and early fall. With a silk flower hanging basket, I can add beautiful color to the outside of our home in every season, bringing instant curb appeal to our property! You can even change out plants and switch to products like Silk Poinsettias for the holiday season.
How to clean silk flowers
One you add silk flowers, silk plants or silk trees to your home, you will find that they are very low-maintenance, requiring almost no attention at all. There’s no watering to worry about, no fertilizing and no pruning, rearranging or picking off of dead leaves or flowers ever needed.
Ideally, you will simply want to dust the plants regularly during your normal home dusting routine. For silk arrangements that are more intricate and potentially more difficult to dust, a compressed air duster will easily get the job done. You can also use a dry paintbrush for smaller leaves and harder to reach areas to dust.
To keep them in tip-top shape, once a year, consider washing the silk flowers or plant in a tub full of water with a little dish soap added. After swishing them around in the water, gentle air dry them on towels. (Do note, there is one exception, water washing is not a good method for cleaning hand-wrapped flowers.)
That’s it! With a little light maintenance your silk arrangements will continue to look stunning.
Ready to add long-lasting beauty to your home decor? Right now, our friends at Nearly Natural are offering Rural Mom readers 20% off their entire order on the Nearly Natural website as well as free shipping. Just use code MOMRM when you check out, from now through May 13!
