Best Tips For Decorating With Faux Christmas Greens

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.

 This post may contains affiliate links. See our Discloser Policy.

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 and the hassle. 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 shops 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!

FAUX GREENS IN A BASKET HANGING ON A HOOK

HOW TO MAKE FAUX GREENS LOOK MORE REALISTIC

Mix different types of greens. This is HUGE! 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 arrangements 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. Right now cedar is so very popular, so collect a bit. 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 greenery garlands apart. I do this all the time! I save every little piece and bit of greenery. Sometimes all you need are a couple sprigs of some pretty greens to make something look festive!

HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS GREENERY

Take care of your great artificial greenery. 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 some helpful tips for using faux greens at Christmastime…

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!