It's the question we get asked most often, and usually phrased a little more cautiously than intended: are these fake plants? The honest answer is yes. They have no roots, nothing grows, and we're not going to sugarcoat it. The more interesting question is what you get in return.
Fake plants, artificial plants, silk plants
These are three words for the same thing, but they evoke something different. "Fake plants" is what people type in. "Artificial plants" is the neutral term. "Silk plants" says something about the quality of the material: leaves made of thin, slightly translucent fabric with a color gradient from heart to edge, instead of sprayed plastic in one flat color.
The latter is where the price difference lies. A ten-euro fake plant and a four-hundred-euro hand-finished tree are technically the same type of product. They just don't look the same, and you especially notice that difference in side lighting.
How to recognize quality
Four things, and you can check them on any product photo.
Color gradient in the leaf. A real leaf never has one single color. Good artificial leaves have darker veins and a lighter edge. One uniform shade of green is the clearest sign of cheap work.
Irregular branching. Branches that emerge from the trunk at neat angles of the same length immediately look artificial. Nothing is symmetrical on a grown tree.
The trunk. A smooth, uniformly brown trunk gives itself away. A good artificial trunk has grain, color variations, and imperfections.
The pot. This is most often forgotten. A beautiful tree in a thin black grow pot still looks like something out of a box. A heavy flower pot does more for credibility than the last twenty percent of leaf quality.
Does the visitor notice?
Up close, with a hand on the leaf: yes, always. From two meters away, where people normally stand in a room: rarely. And frankly, that's not what most people do it for. They do it because the corner next to the sofa is empty, there's not enough light for a real plant, and the previous three didn't make it.
What you get in return
No watering. No falling leaves on the floor. No plant dying during your vacation. A tree that looks just as good in a windowless hallway as it does in front of a south-facing window. And the exact same appearance in February as in July.
That's the trade-off. It's artificial, and that's why it works in places where a living plant can't survive. Those who honestly consider this for themselves usually come to a quick conclusion.
And if it's disappointing: you have a fourteen-day cooling-off period. Put it down, walk past it for a few days, see how it looks at night in the light. That's the only test that matters, and you can never fully do that in a photo.
If you want to see what the difference means in practice, take a look at the artificial trees or the large artificial plants.