Thank you, aViolet. I thought it was just me! : ) I guess I am an oversensitive type, but it bothers me to see a plant thrown out that has great potential, if only it had been placed in some proper light.

There is no shame in fake plants, especially if no light can be provided. We need to get past this, and interior design is not helping at all. At least push the client to install fluorescent lighting for tropical plants. I saw this concession made at a local hotel and it was stunning. The plants looked really good. Not award winning, but definitely above average.

A lot of people think the real plants are fake anyway, which is also kind of annoying!

I agree. Light is king!

Give a plant the proper light and it will reward you. Interior photos are just staged, not where a plant can survive.

Jane

Jentsu, don't let the ficus dry out completely in between waterings. That would be going against its native requirements. The top inch or two can become dry, but a porous potting medium should be on the moist side.

Also, though Aglaonemas don't often fruit when grown inside, they flower quite easily. If your plant spends part of the year outside, the chances of it flowering increases greatly.

Don't forget, peeps, that these plants are renewable resources. The producers of plants consider them a commodity. Sort of like corn. Some consumers think of plants as a renewable resource.....others think of them almost as pets or children. :-)

I think that plastic or fabric plants are pretty tacky. I can't help it; even if they look real, I know that they aren't. I'd far prefer to see real plants, even if temporary or short lived.

Part of the reason I keep houseplants, is for their contribution to the environment. They do clean the air and we all could use that, since indoor air pollution can be worse than outdoors.

There are a lot of low light plants to use. But, really, it makes more sense to plan to have plants near a window. Some people who use plants as decorations, can still do that, as long as they rotate them into the light on a regular basis.

Fake plants are one of my pet peeves. [g] My daughter has a couple because she is way too busy to keep a plant alive. My husband who was not interested in plants for years, but who helps in the garden, suddenly decided he wanted plants in his office. Now he has about 6 plants in his collection. We try to find him easy care plants and he consistently waters, but that's it. If they're not doing well, we replace them.

Not a huge fan of fake plants, either. The preserved boxwood is kind of cute, but then again....that's just a real plant coated in some kind of crazy space age chemical sealant. Therefore, I still put them in the fake category.

Maybe one day someone will invent some kind of no-mount no hardware or tools required stick-on-the-wall battery powered high wattage fluorescent lighting that can support plants anywhere in the home and then I can't fuss about these articles. : )

I worked with a woman who was a fast typist and very conceited. She applied on line to get paid to write articles about everything to be posted on the internet. She had no experience! She just googled the subject and wrote a new slant or opposite or whatever. When in doubt make it up. I said what if someone got hurt by bad info, like car repair, pulleys, furnace, AC, gardening, farming etc. She just laughed and said they ought to do more research.

Of course she did this all on company time. And bosses loved her, she was just so knowledgeable. Just not about our company.

So take some articles with a grain of salt.

Haha! I bet the author of this article was her! I know some kings and queens of...err...bull excrement, if you know what I mean, and I'm amazed at how far they get in life sometimes.