Artificial 3ft Areca Palm Tree

We moved house several months ago. You may well feel that that fact has nothing to do with the item under review, but read on

My wife has always loved having plants around the house. Whenever we went away, until a couple of years ago, our next-door neighbour, a keen gardener, used to take our house plants in and nurture them as if they were his own. When he died, one of our sons agreed to go into our house occasionally to throw a jug of water over each plant. And amazingly, they survived.

But moving to the north east coast of England gave us a bit of a problem. We went abroad for several weeks holiday and as we are still new to the area, we didnt feel we could impose on neighbours we hardly knew. So, given that it was late April when we left, we decided to take a chance and leave all our plants outdoors in the lee of our porch.

Whatever virtues the north east of England has, dependable hot weather isnt one of them and we came home to a sorry sight. Even the peace lilies were resting in peace, never to arise again.

So we decided that in future, apart from cut flowers, we wouldnt risk keeping living plants in the house, especially as we like to go away for extended holidays (ah, the joys of retirement!). We searched the internet for suitable substitutes in the form of plant look-alikes. It was well-packaged, with all its leaves folded up so that it took up very little space. A card was attached giving instructions on how to dress it: i.e. open the leaves out to make it look attractive and suit its allotted space. I should mention that it arrived in a nondescript plastic pot of the sort most plants are sold in at garden centres, though heavily weighted with stones so that it stands firmly upright. The idea is that you choose a bowl to your own taste and put the whole thing into that, packing it round with paper and topping with decorative stones. We already had a lovely red bowl and although I havent yet added the stones it all looks very realistic, especially as the pot supplied is covered with a layer of moss-alike (or is it the real thing? I cant tell).

Dressing the plant is an art in itself and the instructions sensibly recommend that you take plenty of time over it. My wife being currently in hospital, I did a botch-up job myself.

What I did notice was that the plant is very rugged and my initial fears that I might snap a branch off were happily unfounded. I am also happy to report that you would have to examine it very closely to be sure it isnt a genuine, natural-grown plant.

My only gripe is the use of the word artificial, which brings to mind the idea of fake as though its poor quality (think of artificial flavourings, sweeteners, food colours). Is a statue an artificial person or a landscape painting an artificial photo? I view this item rather as a work of art and one, moreover, that never needs watering. Someone needs to come up with a new, positive way of describing it rather than using the negative word artificial. We are well beyond the era of the artificial daffodils of the 1970s. My own suggestion, for what its worth, is plantalike.

This item is a welcome, home-enhancing addition to our house and needs no apologies or neighbourly interventions!

We moved house several months ago. You may well feel that that fact has nothing to do with the item under review, but read on
My wife has always loved having plants around the house. Whenever we went away, until a couple of years ago, our next-door neighbour, a keen gardener, used to take our house plants in and nurture them as if they were his own. When he died, one of our sons agreed to go into our house occasionally to throw a jug of water over each plant. And amazingly, they survived.
But moving to the north east coast of England gave us a bit of a problem. We went abroad for several weeks holiday and as we are still new to the area, we didnt feel we could impose on neighbours we hardly knew. So, given that it was late April when we left, we decided to take a chance and leave all our plants outdoors in the lee of our porch.
Whatever virtues the north east of England has, dependable hot weather isnt one of them and we came home to a sorry sight. Even the peace lilies were resting in peace, never to arise again.
So we decided that in future, apart from cut flowers, we wouldnt risk keeping living plants in the house, especially as we like to go away for extended holidays (ah, the joys of retirement!). We searched the internet for suitable substitutes in the form of plant look-alikes. It was well-packaged, with all its leaves folded up so that it took up very little space. A card was attached giving instructions on how to dress it: i.e. open the leaves out to make it look attractive and suit its allotted space. I should mention that it arrived in a nondescript plastic pot of the sort most plants are sold in at garden centres, though heavily weighted with stones so that it stands firmly upright. The idea is that you choose a bowl to your own taste and put the whole thing into that, packing it round with paper and topping with decorative stones. We already had a lovely red bowl and although I havent yet added the stones it all looks very realistic, especially as the pot supplied is covered with a layer of moss-alike (or is it the real thing? I cant tell).
Dressing the plant is an art in itself and the instructions sensibly recommend that you take plenty of time over it. My wife being currently in hospital, I did a botch-up job myself.
What I did notice was that the plant is very rugged and my initial fears that I might snap a branch off were happily unfounded. I am also happy to report that you would have to examine it very closely to be sure it isnt a genuine, natural-grown plant.
My only gripe is the use of the word artificial, which brings to mind the idea of fake as though its poor quality (think of artificial flavourings, sweeteners, food colours). Is a statue an artificial person or a landscape painting an artificial photo? I view this item rather as a work of art and one, moreover, that never needs watering. Someone needs to come up with a new, positive way of describing it rather than using the negative word artificial. We are well beyond the era of the artificial daffodils of the 1970s. My own suggestion, for what its worth, is plantalike.
This item is a welcome, home-enhancing addition to our house and needs no apologies or neighbourly interventions!

We moved house several months ago. You may well feel that that fact has nothing to do with the item under review, but read on

My wife has always loved having plants around the house. Whenever we went away, until a couple of years ago, our next-door neighbour, a keen gardener, used to take our house plants in and nurture them as if they were his own. When he died, one of our sons agreed to go into our house occasionally to throw a jug of water over each plant. And amazingly, they survived.

But moving to the north east coast of England gave us a bit of a problem. We went abroad for several weeks holiday and as we are still new to the area, we didnt feel we could impose on neighbours we hardly knew. So, given that it was late April when we left, we decided to take a chance and leave all our plants outdoors in the lee of our porch.

Whatever virtues the north east of England has, dependable hot weather isnt one of them and we came home to a sorry sight. Even the peace lilies were resting in peace, never to arise again.

So we decided that in future, apart from cut flowers, we wouldnt risk keeping living plants in the house, especially as we like to go away for extended holidays (ah, the joys of retirement!). We searched the internet for suitable substitutes in the form of plant look-alikes. It was well-packaged, with all its leaves folded up so that it took up very little space. A card was attached giving instructions on how to dress it: i.e. open the leaves out to make it look attractive and suit its allotted space. I should mention that it arrived in a nondescript plastic pot of the sort most plants are sold in at garden centres, though heavily weighted with stones so that it stands firmly upright. The idea is that you choose a bowl to your own taste and put the whole thing into that, packing it round with paper and topping with decorative stones. We already had a lovely red bowl and although I havent yet added the stones it all looks very realistic, especially as the pot supplied is covered with a layer of moss-alike (or is it the real thing? I cant tell).

Dressing the plant is an art in itself and the instructions sensibly recommend that you take plenty of time over it. My wife being currently in hospital, I did a botch-up job myself.

What I did notice was that the plant is very rugged and my initial fears that I might snap a branch off were happily unfounded. I am also happy to report that you would have to examine it very closely to be sure it isnt a genuine, natural-grown plant.

My only gripe is the use of the word artificial, which brings to mind the idea of fake as though its poor quality (think of artificial flavourings, sweeteners, food colours). Is a statue an artificial person or a landscape painting an artificial photo? I view this item rather as a work of art and one, moreover, that never needs watering. Someone needs to come up with a new, positive way of describing it rather than using the negative word artificial. We are well beyond the era of the artificial daffodils of the 1970s. My own suggestion, for what its worth, is plantalike.

This item is a welcome, home-enhancing addition to our house and needs no apologies or neighbourly interventions!

We moved house several months ago. You may well feel that that fact has nothing to do with the item under review, but read on
My wife has always loved having plants around the house. Whenever we went away, until a couple of years ago, our next-door neighbour, a keen gardener, used to take our house plants in and nurture them as if they were his own. When he died, one of our sons agreed to go into our house occasionally to throw a jug of water over each plant. And amazingly, they survived.
But moving to the north east coast of England gave us a bit of a problem. We went abroad for several weeks holiday and as we are still new to the area, we didnt feel we could impose on neighbours we hardly knew. So, given that it was late April when we left, we decided to take a chance and leave all our plants outdoors in the lee of our porch.
Whatever virtues the north east of England has, dependable hot weather isnt one of them and we came home to a sorry sight. Even the peace lilies were resting in peace, never to arise again.
So we decided that in future, apart from cut flowers, we wouldnt risk keeping living plants in the house, especially as we like to go away for extended holidays (ah, the joys of retirement!). We searched the internet for suitable substitutes in the form of plant look-alikes. It was well-packaged, with all its leaves folded up so that it took up very little space. A card was attached giving instructions on how to dress it: i.e. open the leaves out to make it look attractive and suit its allotted space. I should mention that it arrived in a nondescript plastic pot of the sort most plants are sold in at garden centres, though heavily weighted with stones so that it stands firmly upright. The idea is that you choose a bowl to your own taste and put the whole thing into that, packing it round with paper and topping with decorative stones. We already had a lovely red bowl and although I havent yet added the stones it all looks very realistic, especially as the pot supplied is covered with a layer of moss-alike (or is it the real thing? I cant tell).
Dressing the plant is an art in itself and the instructions sensibly recommend that you take plenty of time over it. My wife being currently in hospital, I did a botch-up job myself.
What I did notice was that the plant is very rugged and my initial fears that I might snap a branch off were happily unfounded. I am also happy to report that you would have to examine it very closely to be sure it isnt a genuine, natural-grown plant.
My only gripe is the use of the word artificial, which brings to mind the idea of fake as though its poor quality (think of artificial flavourings, sweeteners, food colours). Is a statue an artificial person or a landscape painting an artificial photo? I view this item rather as a work of art and one, moreover, that never needs watering. Someone needs to come up with a new, positive way of describing it rather than using the negative word artificial. We are well beyond the era of the artificial daffodils of the 1970s. My own suggestion, for what its worth, is plantalike.
This item is a welcome, home-enhancing addition to our house and needs no apologies or neighbourly interventions!

Beautiful, very real looking