Easy Ways To Make Exterior Faux Plants Look Real

By  Carrie Waller
Faux plant near exterior door and bench Carrie Waller for Hunker

When you want to add greenery to your home exterior, but don't want the upkeep of live plants, consider faux plants. They totally work in outside situations — and require zero pruning, watering, or attention. Discover the step-by-step process on how to easily put together faux greenery, plus our two favorite faux plant resources that hold up against the elements. Even ​you'll​ be fooled into thinking these are real!

Faux plants on step exterirorCarrie Waller for Hunker

Things Needed

Here's what you'll need to plant your faux bushes to make them look real.Carrie Waller for Hunker

Step 1

Fill the bottom of the 16-inch plastic pot with pea gravel. Fill it up as high as you need for your faux plant to sit at the desired height inside your planter pot (about 3 to 4 inches below the rim). Most faux plants come with small bases, so you might have to fill the pot up halfway or more to have the plant base sit just a few inches below the rim of the planter pot.

Fill the bottom of a pot with pea gravel.Carrie Waller for Hunker

Step 2

Set the plant on top of the pea gravel in the center of the planter pot. Wiggle the plant's base around a little bit over the gravel to get it to sit nice and straight.

Set the plant on top of the pea gravel in the pot.Carrie Waller for Hunker

Step 3

Fill the remaining space around your faux plant with plastic bubble wrap or with more gravel, leaving a few inches of empty space below the rim of the planter pot. If you plan to set your plants up in a spot on the lawn that's more prone to wind and strong breezes, it's best to fill the space around the plant base with more gravel instead of plastic as this will help stabilize your plant better against gusts. As a point of reference, we used plastic wrap around the smaller 2-foot faux cedar bush, and gravel around the taller 4-foot faux cedar tree base since the latter needed more stabilization against wind.

Fill the remaining space with recycled plastic bubble wrap or more gravel.Carrie Waller for Hunker

Step 4

Fill the rest of the pot up with potting mix so that all plastic wrap or pea gravel is completely covered. As an alternative, you could leave the pea gravel exposed since that's a fairly common thing to see around live garden plants, but we think the potting mix is key in helping your faux plants look as real as possible.

Fill the rest of the pot up with potting mix.Carrie Waller for Hunker

Step 5

Repeat the DIY process with your second faux plant and the 12-inch ceramic pot, then set them up outside near your front door, side entry, or shed. No need to water or trim, and the two plants referenced here seem to do well in full sun, too — no fading!

Set your planted faux bushes up outside near your front door or shed.Carrie Waller for Hunker

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