Even better than the real thing
Put a fresh spin on those Mother’s Day blooms with oh-so fabulous faux and dried arrangements, writes Nathalie Marquez Courtney
Covid-19 restrictions are changing our homes in many weird ways, but, thankfully, in some wonderful ones too. Not a week goes by when I don’t get a press release about a thriving new independent business, born during lockdown — either because someone was finally able to get the time and headspace to dedicate to a long-dormant passion, or because pandemic life threw up all sorts of new problems in search of innovative solutions.
And sometimes, in the case of faux and dried flowers, it’s both. Artificial and dried flower arrangements have been steadily growing in popularity for a few years now, slowly shaking off the fusty, dusty image of before. Against all odds, they have managed to become cool again.
A few things have combined to make them suddenly one of the hottest interiors buys around: we’re home more, and often looking for simple, affordable ways to add some colour and brightness (read: positivity and hope) to our spaces.
However, being home more often also means our houses are staying warmer for longer, which is dramatically shortening the lifespan of fresh flowers. “My home is very airtight, so I only get a few days out of fresh flowers,” says Carrie O’Connor, a Tralee-based faux floral artist. Carrie is an award-winning florist, who ran her own fresh floral business several years ago, creating wedding bouquets, and only started experimenting with faux foliage during last spring’s lockdown.
“I wouldn’t have touched artificial flowers before,” she says, laughing. “But there’s been a big change in quality in the past few years. You can now get hand-made, hand-painted, botanically correct flowers that look even better than the real thing because they are created to look as if they were cut at just the right stage of opening.”
Carrie and her daughter Sarah have launched Holly and Willow (hollyandwillow.ie), an online store selling faux bouquets, arrangements and bright and cheery wreaths, many of which are quick to sell out as soon as they are posted on social media.
Laura Maher Hora, who runs new online interiors store, The Irish Country Home (theirishcountryhome.com), was equally surprised by the quality of artificial flowers and foliage — and their ability to outlast their fresh counterparts. Many of her customers live in new builds and find good insulation to be the enemy of fresh-cut blooms.
“I love fresh flowers, but our new house is so well insulated that it’s very warm — the best thing about faux bouquets is that I don’t have to look at flowers dying in my home every day,” she says. “There are also so many places in your home you’d love to have flowers, but I can’t imagine trying to buy fresh flowers every week for all those spots.”
For the most natural look, get a faux bouquet for each season — faux tulips and magnolias are hugely popular right now — or go for something like hydrangeas, which work year-round. While being able to take your pick from different seasons is one of the biggest benefits of faux flowers, displaying dramatically off-season blooms (say, peonies in November) will look jarring and out of place.
Plenty of foliage and perfectly imperfect arrangements are key to making faux florals look legit.
“Foliage is very important —
I wouldn’t have touched artificial flowers before, but there’s been a big change in quality in the past few years
things like artificial ferns, eucalyptus or pussy willow mixed in will add texture and mean you actually need fewer stems,” says Carrie. “I love foraging, so I try to create bouquets that look a little bit wild, like something you could have cut in your garden.”
You can also mix and match, by
having some faux eucalyptus stems on stand by to flesh out a bunch of supermarket tulips (though if you’re going to do this, Laura recommends applying some clear nail varnish to the bottom of the stems to prevent them rusting in the water).
Caring for faux florals is a cinch: you can give them a quick, gentle blast with the hairdryer on a cool setting or wipe them down with a damp cloth.
Stylist Jette Virdi launched her dried floral business, The Flower Drop, just a few months ago, and the first batch sold out in 13 minutes.
“I did not anticipate this,” she laughs. “I thought it was going to be a fun side-hustle, something playful and creative I could do maybe one weekend a month — but I ended up working every single night to meet demand.”
As well as selling through Instagram (@the_flowerdrop), Jette now has some wholesale clients around the country, including Dublin’s Camerino Bakery, lifestyle store NB Goods in Wicklow and Wilder & Gold Café in Ballymahon, Co Longford.
Like fresh-cut blooms, dried arrangements add interest, life and texture to a room. But the sheer variety of finishes and colours available, as well as the creative styling opportunities, mean it’s much more akin to buying a piece of decor for your space.
“You can, of course, pop them into a vase, but you can also turn a bunch of dried blooms into a wreath or break them up into smaller bunches and dot them around your house,” says Jette. “I love that with dried blooms you can match your interiors to your flowers or create striking contrasts — I’m currently working on a neon arrangement.”
Knowing how to display and style dried blooms is important, as they are often shipped tightly packed and with very long stems. Many people make the mistake of not cutting or properly arranging them before putting them in vessels.
“Don’t be afraid to trim the stems according to the size of your vase,” Jette advises. “Split your bouquet out, cut your stems and have them on different shelves in different sized vases so it creates a pleasing visual pathway for the eye.”