How to Decorate With Artificial Plants and Flowers

Find interesting containers at garage sales and flea markets. Pitchers, baskets, tea pots, urns, old pottery and clay pots are good choices.

Pair containers with appropriate arrangements -- formal arrangements in formal containers such as antique pitchers and bowls and casual or shabby chic containers for more whimsical artificial flowers and greens.

Create a complete indoor garden with potted artificial plants and flowers. Mix artificial trees, grasses, flowers and green plants with outdoor garden elements such as statuary and birdbaths. If space is limited, plant a garden in a single container using several types of plants and a decorative stake or ornament. Stick with plants and flowers that grow in your zone for the most natural look and feel. Varying sizes and textures make your indoor garden more lifelike and more interesting. Up lights create a dramatic effect as they illuminate plants from below.

Add an elegant, dramatic touch to a tabletop with a single orchid stem.

Use interesting substrate material such as broken glass or pottery, beads and pebbles to enhance the visual appeal of your containers.

Flank mirrors and wall art with plant-filled sconces, or use the sconces to fill in bland expanses of bare wall.

Soften hard edges and add color and interest to ledges, cabinet tops and mantels with sprays of artificial plants and flowers or by draping them with artificial vines.

Decorate your home's exterior. Protect your artificial plants and flowers against the elements by spraying them with two coats of clear acrylic. Create arrangements in baskets and urns, and place them near your front door. Hang them from shepherd's hooks along the walkway, too.

Mix artificial plants and real ones to extend your natural garden's "growing season," and include plants that you have difficulty growing. Indoors, a pot with a real and artificial flower of the same variety ensures that you'll always have one plant in bloom.