Joanna Gaines Settles the Fake Flower Debate Once and For All

From Country Living

Take a close look at Joanna Gaines' designs on Fixer Upper, and you'll see there's something she always incorporates into every home she designs. No, not shiplap-plants and flowers! Whether it's cacti in rustic pots on a pony wall or vintage vases filled with blooms in a rustic bedroom retreat, Joanna loves to bring the outdoors inside.

Why? Every space needs some movement, Joanna explains, and that's exactly what plants and flowers offer. "I think flowers offers whimsy to a space," she tells CountryLiving.com. "If you look at the space without it, it looks like it's missing something." But if you take an even closer look, you'll notice many of the plants and flowers Joanna uses are fake, which is an interesting choice for a designer who loves to garden.

While Joanna loves to use fresh greenery and flowers, she says she also understands that real plants can be high-maintenance and impractical, which is why she likes to use faux flowers and even sells them in bulk at Magnolia Market. "I'm all about plants and pots, but you take that to another level with fresh florals everywhere, it just feels like a lot that you've got to maintain," she says. So if you're a busy person, Joanna says there's no shame in going for the faux.

On Magnolia Market's website, you'll find an array of high-quality fake flowers, wreaths, ferns, succulents, branches, and stems for sale, all of which Joanna picked out herself. "I wanted to make sure they feel authentic, looked right, and felt right," she says. "These florals are the tried and true ones I use in my own home that I suggest other people use because I think at the end of the day, people don't have time to go get fresh cut flowers every day."

In fact, the faux flowers tend to look so real, most people can't tell the difference, which is exactly what Joanna aims for. "We have silver dollar eucalyptus that people look at and write us, 'we thought this was real. I put it in water and realized it wasn't dying,'" she says. "So that tells me they look real."

Joanna suggests treating the fake flowers, branches, and stems like you would any other. "I always tell people, add real water to the vase to make it look realistic," she says. "It doesn't do anything to the stem because it's coated in plastic."

But with all that being said, this self-proclaimed plant lady believes fresh will always be best. "If you have a fresh garden out back and you have fresh florals-take advantage of that," she says. "Authentic is always best because of the smell. And there's something about going out and cutting your own flowers that's definitely therapeutic."

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