Post #378872 by MadDogMike on Wed, May 7, 2008 6:57 PM

San Diego and Florida can get their Bird of Paradise, Hibiscus, etc to bloom year around but some of us aren't so lucky. I live in the hot dry desert of SoCal (Sunset Western Garden Zone unlucky 13) and plants struggle to survive, let alone bloom. So I get some help from Michael's Crafts in the form of silk flowers! Put the silk flowers in with the real foliage and people very seldom notice they are fake.

Fake Japanese Laterns in with Asparagas Fern and Carolina Jasmine.

Fake purple Orchids in the Cape Honeysuckle vine (the small purple Vinca flowers are real), fake Bird of Paradise flowers on a real Bird of Paradise plant in the background. Not pictured is fake Hibiscus and Gardenia on real Hibiscus and Gardenia plants, just used floral wire and lightly tied the flowers to the end of the real branches. Get rid of the fake leaves, they give everything away.

Anything worth doing, is worth doing to the point of wretched excess.

[ Edited by: MadDogMike 2008-05-07 19:02 ]