There are times when you walk into a room and there is a feeling that the room is pretty dead and you don’t get that home feeling. Other times you walk into a room and the atmosphere is alive and you feel great. The reason the room feels so alive and bright is simple, flowers. You may think its always fresh flowers but I can assure you that more often than not these days those will be artificial flowers. There’s good reason that good artificial flowers have become more popular in recent time. They have many many advantages over fresh flowers and they have become ever more convincing in their appearance

Unlike a fresh bouquet of flowers which are only going to last you around a week, a bouquet of imitation flowers are going to be there for as long as you want them to be. Maybe forever. They are not going to die after a week and need replacing. Think of you money that could be saved not having to splash out on flowers every week. That money could be better spend elsewhere and not wasted on something that doesn’t last.

With artificial flowers there is always going to be flowers in your home, or at your place of work. If you forget to replace your fresh flowers all the time then that’s not going to be a problem, as the only time you need replace the fake flowers is when you get fed up with what they look like. Is your wedding approaching? You could use silk for your wedding flowers.

Unlike a fresh plant an artificial one needs almost no care to keep it looking good. The only thing you need to do is keep the dust off of the leaves. There’s no need to keep watering them to keep them alive and no need to trim them to keep them under control and keep them looking fresh. If you are a busy professional and have a small garden or rooftop garden then artificial flowers are ideal. They look great and at night illuminated by garden lights no one will be able to tell the difference.

Artificial flowers are also clean and hygienic. They don’t attract insects, ideal if you want flowers in your kitchen, no insects flying around your food. They also don’t go rotten and create a bad smell. No old rotten water and no dead leaves rotting on your table or window ledge.

Imitation flowers really do have some great points and great for those of us who have no time or interest to take care of fresh flowers or plants. The other sections of this site are going to cover some of the other types of artificial flowers available.

Flowers are hugely popular at weddings, just because they are so beautiful to look at. They contain wonderful colors and shapes that add to the air of festivity. Thanks to modern technology there is a new breed to flowers and bouquets on the market that are getting used more and more often at wedding – silk wedding bouquets, which are basically your normal flowers but made from silk, rather than using fresh flowers.

Silk flowers are a fantastic alternative to fresh flowers because they contain no pollen and produce no smells (which is ideal if any of the wedding party are allergic to pollen or just dislike certain smells), these flowers have the potential to last for the rest of your life, if they are looked after correctly (great for keeping your wedding memories fresh), they are not going to fade, go dry, or out of shape like a real flower would. Another bonus is that they cost much less than fresh flowers. If you buy from a quality supplier they will look identical to fresh flowers too, they will look so real that you will need to get in real close to notice any differences.

Silk wedding bouquets can be used for any part of the wedding decoration, as long as they match the weddings main theme. They will have to be in the right color, size and shape so that they don’t look out of place. Take the dining table for example, if you have a silk bouquet for the centerpiece, then you will want to make sure that it matches the color of the table cloth and chair covers, and that it is small in size so that it doesn’t block the guests view of each other. The flowers might be beautiful looking, but I’m pretty certain the wedding guests would rather have the ability to see and talk to the other guests, rather than stare at the flowers for the whole meal.

Because silk wedding bouquets will play such a massive part in the wedding, most wedding shops understand the bride wanting everything to be perfect for the big day. So, for that reason, many shops will actually let the bride design her own bouquet entirely, letting her choose the size, shape, color and all of the flowers that she wants the bouquet to contain.

If the bride is feeling creative the she might want to have a shot at adding bit of her own creativity, by decorating the bouquet, maybe adding in some little pearls to the flowers, or maybe some tulle or decorative ribbons to give the wedding bouquet a little something extra. They might want to try adding some little swarovski crystals to the bouquet to give it a bit of sparkle and to make it stand out that little bit more. After all, it is up to the bride how her bouquet looks on the day of her wedding.

There are certainly no shortage of ideas for the bride and how she can decorate her wedding bouquet. If she takes a look online, she will find a huge amount of information, and images regarding silk wedding bouquets, each of them more beautiful than the previous one. If, while browsing the sites online, the bride spots a design that she likes, it is usually possible to place an order online and have the flowers delivered to your door. Because the bouquet is made using artificial flowers, you don’t need to wait until right before the wedding day before you place the order, because they will last for months or years, as mentioned before they wont fade or wilt like fresh flowers would.

A bouquet made from imitation flowers is definitely the way to go. You don’t need to worry about not having enough ideas for your perfect wedding bouquet, there are loads of sources online and in books for you to make a lovely bouquet.

Floriography is not solely communicated through the choice of color or type of flower, it is also spoken by the way in which a flower is either gifted or worn.  Flowers presented in an upright manner communicate a positive meaning.  Conversely, if the flower is upside down instead of right side up when gifted, then it has the opposite meaning.  Tying a ribbon on the left of a flower means that the meaning attributed with the flower itself refers back to the giver.  When the ribbon is on the right side, then the meaning is refers back to the recipient of the flower.  Flowers also answer questions.  If a flower is handed in the right hand, that stands for “yes.”  When presented using the left hand, then “no” is the answer.
 
Flower meanings seem to stem from the 17th Century, when the Turks began to develop meanings for flowers.  Lady Mary Wortley described this secret language in a letter she wrote.  She learned about this floral language during trips to Turkey.  Her letter was a catalyst for Europe, which quickly followed suit in adopting floriography.
 
Use of floriography continued in the 1800s, when Louise Cartambert published the first dictionary for the flower language.  This small book became a very popular reference for speakers of this language.
 

The popularity of this language increased in the Victorian era.  In particular, Victorian women were especially attuned to this language.  It enabled them to speak their feelings and share personal communications that would otherwise be restricted by the rules of propriety that were prevalent at that time.  In fact, a very  popular flower gift at that time was Tussie-Mussies, flower bouquets which are wrapped in lace and tied with satin.  Again there are various connotations to each type of flower gifts. You can see the example here of some good sunflower gift ideas.Additionally, Jean Marsh published a popular, well-respected book on the meanings of flowers.  To this day, this book has served as the source for Victorian era flower meaning.
 
To convey all of these messages and ideas you don’t need to use fresh flowers, artificial flowers will work just as well, and your message will be remembered forever.

Buying flowers online probably gives you the biggest selection of flowers there is. If one online shop doesn’t have what you are after then its quick and easy to check another until you find what you are after, fresh or artificial flowers, roses or tulips, its easy, no trailing around shops or making loads of phone calls to find what you want.

Most places you buy from are going to give you a good choice of delivery dates and times. If you order early enough in the day a lot will also offer same day delivery. If you want the flowers delivered later in the week, the florist will prepare your flowers to coincide with your requested delivery time.

Among the many choices you have available to you, you can can choose fresh or artificial flowers for delivery. You may be worried that your fresh flowers will be damaged in transit. In this case you may opt for artificial flowers. Though in my experience fresh flowers are very well packaged and really looked after so they arrive in perfect condition.

There are many many reasons to send flowers, the most popular day is of course Valentines Day. Sending a bunch of roses to your girlfriend, wife or partner is guaranteed to please and as much as it seems predictable or the norm, flowers are always a great gift on Valentines. There are of course or times to send flowers, religious celebrations, birthdays, weddings and sadly funerals, being a few. Then there are those times when you know you haven’t been the ideal partner, flowers are always a good start to saying sorry.

So there you have it, there are many ways to order flowers and different levels of personal involvement in the process. Check online for the huge selection you have available to you.

One of the main problems I have personally with imitation flowers is that they don’t smell anything like the real thing. Florists, manufacturers and retailers try their hardest to scent the flowers with something close to what a fresh flower smells like. But there are so many factors and subtle nuances involved in the natural smell that they just cant get it right. How do you capture summer days and nature in a spray bottle? Its just not possible. And until it becomes possible then fresh plants and flowers are going to be top the class.

Next in line is looks, silk flowers have come a long way in the looks department from a few years ago when you didn’t even need a second to consider whether or not the plant in front of you was real or not. These days it really does take a closer look to determine the authenticity of the flowers before us. Though they still don’t have it perfect, fresh flowers still have the edge. There’s all those little details that nature has perfected over the years that man cant quite re-create.

We also have to consider the effect artificial flowers have in our home. Could we, as home owners, be looked at as being lazy for having fake flowers in our home? We can’t be bothered to look after real flowers so opt for the easy option and take the flowers that once you have sat them where you want them, have to do no more. Or could we be seen as being cheap, not being willing to spend money on a fresh bouquet of flowers every now and then and just buy the one off and save our money.

Continuing with the lazy point, if we are too lazy and we don’t do the little caring that fake flowers need, that being dusting and cleaning down, then they end up looking terrible and bring down the rest of your home with them. With real flowers, while they might not last long, this is a bonus as they aren’t alive long enough to gather dust. They die and we replace them with another bunch that fresh and looking beautiful.

There are quite a lot of disadvantages to having or using artificial flowers. To me, real flowers are always going to be first choice, the natural choice, the freshness they add to any room they are added to is impossible to replace. I’m not saying there are no advantages to artificial flowers, there are many, have a look at the other articles on the site, or anywhere else online. They might be just what are are after, or maybe they wont be.

Firstly I am going to consider artificial flowers and how they effect your work place and your or your clients moods.

First of all, are you type of person who has the time or the dedication to look after real live plants? Most of the time we just don’t have the time at work to go around checking all the plants are OK, have a good supply of water, light and air etc. This is where artificial or silk flowers come in. They require no really care what so ever. Since they are not living objects they don’t need light, they don’t need to be watered at the correct intervals, they don’t need watered at all and they don’t need fresh air to keep them alive. Silk flowers just keep going and going. The only maintenance you need to do is to keep them clean. You don’t want a build up for dust and dirt to effect you or your work performance.

If you get tired of looking at the same flowers all the time and decide you want a change then its not a problem. If you buy a new plant you can store the silk flowers away until you fancy using them again. Or even using them in a different place, take them home, give them to a work colleague.

Also if you have a favourite variety of flower you want and cant get them fresh because they are not in season then you can opt of  silk flowers instead, they are not effected by season and you can have any flower you want, when ever you want. A summer bouquet with Carnations and Gladioli in the dead of winter? Then that’s not a problem with silk flowers.

The downsides to artificial flowers is that they don’t have that scent that fresh flowers have. Of course they come scented but it just isn’t the same. They also don’t give off that same feeling in the air around them.

This is where fresh flowers excel, as soon as you walk into a room with a lovely fresh bouquet or new potted plant you know its there. There is that wonderful smell that you just cant recreate, no matter how hard we try. And there’s they feel and atmosphere that fresh plants create. There is no way you are going to get that from artificial plants or flowers.

While silk flower have really moved forward regarding how they look, they just don’t have that same class and finesse that real plants do.

Sadly you have got to look after fresh potted plants, making sure they have enough water, light and air for them to survive. If you have time and have an interest in keeping your plants looking good then this isn’t a problem. If you cant be bothered with the hassle then you might be better taking artificial flowers. For me silk flowers have their place, but there really is no substitute for the real thing.

Before I started to write this I was under the impression that fresh flowers were going to walk all over their silk counterparts, but after some research it turns out it’s a close match.

Artificial flowers really do have advantages over fresh flowers. If you suffer from allergies do you really want to run the risk of having red eyes, be sneezing or have a rash on  your big day? With silk flowers this problem is overcome, there are nothing in them that’s going to cause any sort of irritations.

Silk flowers really have moved forward in recent times, when you look at artificial flowers you really are hard pushed to tell the difference between them and real flowers. They just look so similar now. Not only that, the beauty of the flowers can be kept forever, silk isn’t going to fade or wilt in time, so you are always going to have them to look at in years to come, to bring back those wonderful memories. You also have the choice of reusing those flowers in the future. Whether you would want to or not is up to you.

If you opt for the fresh variety for your wedding day you are limited by what season we are currently in. Certain flowers are restricted to growing at specific times of the year, if the flower you love isn’t in season then its going to be very hard to get it for your wedding. Silk doesn’t go in and out of season, so your choices are limitless. Not only have go unlimited choices on the flowers you want they are going to cost less than the real thing. Saving you money when planning the wedding might let you spend it elsewhere.

Its not all bad news for fresh flowers though, they do have their advantages. If you are into following tradition, then there is only one option for you. Artificial flowers will never take that title away from fresh. There’s also that scent! Artificial flowers may come scented, but there really is no comparison to the smell of real flowers.

While silk flowers look very similar to real ones, there is still something about the look of the real thing that just sets something off in the mind. They just look great.

There are some more downsides though, fresh flowers really have to be looked after on the days up to the wedding for them to be looking at their prime. If something happens are the florist that means they are not stored under optimal conditions then they may just go off before the weddings gets under way.

At the end of the day the final decision comes down to how the bride feels, if she wants traditional then there’s only 1 option, is she’s not bothered about that then there are plenty of pros and cons to consider for each. Speaking to a florist in person may make that choice easier.