Decorating with faux Christmas greens can be just as beautiful as the real thing. Here are helpful ways to choose and decorate with all kinds of faux greens.
I used to decorate my home at Christmastime with live greens. I love the evergreen smell that wafted through our home. But did not love the mess. So I started using faux Christmas greens and have enjoyed them ever since. Today let’s talk about easy ways to make faux greens look more realistic in your home during Christmas.
MY CHRISTMAS GREENS STORY
I really loved using live Christmas evergreens in our home but I really did not like changing sap laden water and cleaning up dropping needles and having to replace the real greens every 10 days or so.
One year I just got tired of all the work. There had to be a better way! So I went on a quest to find great faux greens that looked like the real deal! And my search paid off!
It was like a Christmas miracle!
I had no idea such beautiful faux evergreens really existed!
Okay, they did not smell Christmassy but they certainly looked Christmassy… and real!
I’ve collected boxes and boxes of live greens over the years. And now I think of myself as a faux greenery aficionado of sorts. So today let’s chat about choosing and decorating with faux Christmas greenery!
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BUYING FAUX GREENS
When I decorate with faux Christmas greens I like to keep it simple and let the greens show off their beauty! Here are a few tips for choosing and decorating with faux Christmas greens.
Real or faux? Hard to tell! These are my go-to faux Christmas greens! I love fool the eye faux organics!
Here are my best tips for finding the best-looking faux greens…
- Buy the best fakes you can. I know I might get some blow-back when I say this but when you want artificial greens that look as close to the real thing as possible skip the large craft stores. They do have greens but they are usually not the best quality.
- Shop local decor shop or big flower outlets for the most realistic greens. Or shop reputable sources online.
- Shop sales! You will be amazed at all the Christmas decor already on sale now. The faux evergreen branch above was $4.90 and I got it on sale for 25% off!
- Choose sprays of greens that are real life size. If you want your faux greens to look real, they have to be the right size.
- Think about buying a realistic garland to cut apart. You get lots of greenery for the money!
HOW TO MAKE FAUX GREENS LOOK MORE REALISTIC
- Mix different types of greens. When arranging greens make sure to mix a variety of different evergreens and other greenery together. You will be rewarded with a much more interesting and realistic arrangement. I filled the pottery lanterns with a short needle evergreen and a long needled pine.
- Add the correct pinecone with their type of evergreen sprays. It will make your arrangments look so much more authentic.
- Fluff, bend and arrange each evergreen branch individually. Don’t just plunk faux greens in an arrangement without “arranging” them.
- The most popular types of faux greenery are… short needle evergreen, pine evergreen, cypress, boxwood, and juniper.
CREATING A COLLECTION YOU CAN USE FOR YEARS AND YEARS
- Collect faux greenery little by little. I’ve been collecting high quality fakes for years now and I have accumulated quite a stash. I can now decorate my home with all the greenery I have collected. It takes time to build up a great collection. Add to your collection every year!
- Choose 3 or 4 different types of greenery to collect and keep collecting just that kind. I chose a short needle evergreen, pine, and juniper. It’s so easy to mix and match them!
- Pass up any greens that you know in your heart won’t look very realistic. Be choosy!
- Don’t be afraid to cut your faux branches and garland apart. I do this all the time! I save every little piece of green. Sometimes all you need are a couple sprigs of some pretty greens to make something look festive!
HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR FAUXS
- Take care of your great faux greens. When the season is over swish them in warm sudsy water, rinse them and let them air dry. They collect dust and grime and need to be cleaned. Just make sure they are totally dry before putting them away.
- Keep faux greens out of direct sunlight. Some of them will fade.
- Straighten out the stems and branches before storing them away until next Christmas.
- Store like faux’s together in clear plastic boxes with tight fitting lids. Store them in a cool, dry place.
- It’s a good idea to wear a light pair of garden gloves when working with faux greens. Like their real counterparts, they can scratch!
OTHER HELPFUL IDEAS
Here are som helpful tips for using faux greens at Christamstime…
- If you like snowy Christmas greens choose ones that have a light dusting on them. If they are heavily snow covered they won’t look as realistic.
- Collect other “add ins”. I also collect red berries, white berries, tiny stars, pinecones (you know my obsession with pinecones), antique ornaments and more! I accent my arrangments with these items and more!
- Add other leaves in an arrangement made of faux Christmas greens. Magnolia leaves are very popular to use during the Christmas season. I have velvet-ish light green leaves that look beautiful with faux greens!
- String lights in your greens for a magical look. Just make sure the cords are green to work with your evergreens.
- Tuck sprigs of Christmas greens around other Christmas decor.
Decorating with real greenery is quintessentially Christmas! But if you are like me, and tired of the mess they made then you might want to think about switching to fabulous faux! If you do… you won’t go back!
YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE OTHER CHRISTMAS POSTS…
USE WHAT YOU HAVE CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENT
THE EASIEST CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENT YOU WILL EVER MAKE!
HOW TO UPDATE AN OLD CHRISTMAS WREATH
YOU MIGHT LIKE THESE GREENS
I may have missed it but where do you buy the faux greens you love?
I most often buy them locally but there are great faux greens at places like Pottery Barn and Ballard Designs.
See the bottom of the post. I look for greens in lots of little shops.
I’d like to know where you buy your Christmas greens? 😀. Thanks!
I added a boutique at the bottom of the post. Check out some of the greens there. I have collected greens for over a decade. When I go to small shops I always have my eye out for them. Hope this is helpful. Happy Decorating!
I’m pretty sure I read the entire post about faux greens but didn’t see the name of the shop you said you posted. And yes, I cannot find those bells anywhere this year.
Pam, I got them at a local shop called The Old Millhouse Shoppe. I’m sorry you cannot find the bells. They may be out of stock.
This is such a great post. I use to also use live greens…we have a number of evergreens of all types, in our yard, but the MESS was just that.
The cost of using more expensive greens isn’t that great when you figure they last forever. Since I put my holiday arrangements up in mid to late November and leave them up until mid January…live greens would never survive.
One of your best tips, was to bend and arrange the faux greens to mimic the way a live branch would be.
I love to see all of your beautiful holiday arrangements.
Thanks again!
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing, Judy!
I saw you mentioned adding lights to greens for that special touch. Several years ago I started using the tiny battery operated “SEED” lights to arrangements. This allows for lights in many places you couldn’t use a plug-in string lights…example, a dining room table centerpiece or coffee table arrangement.
Very pretty, Judy! Thanks for the great tip.
Where did you find the beautiful bells that are in your foyer picture?
I have to think about that Pam. I thought I got them at Amazon but I don’t see them there.
A great online source for faux flowers and greenery is housebyjsdonline.com, They also have a store in KY.
I looked the site you requested up and they do have pretty ribbon and faux flowers, but very limited online.
I was wondering where you purchased the white cut-out snowflakes that are hanging in your foyer? I have seen some at Crate & Barrel but they are not as intricate and lovely as yours.