Backyard Beauty

Happy Monday!

I am pleased to say that Tommy and I are probably 90% moved in to our new home. I still have 5-6 boxes I need to go through in the guest room and we still have a few shelves, pictures, and paintings to hang up on the walls, but it’s slowly coming together! (Of course this doesn’t count normal house projects that especially seem to come up when you purchase a home – building shelves in a hallway closet, putting up a fence in the backyard, putting some wallpaper in certain rooms, but you know, baby steps!)

A couple of months ago Silk Plants Direct, a silk flowers and plants retailer, reached out to me to see if I’d be interested in reviewing any of their products. I must admit at first I was perplexed. I’m always game to try new products, but everyone that knows me, knows fake flowers, plants, anything in that arena ARE NOT my thing. I’ve just always preferred the real things – they are natural, usually fragrant, and pretty. Besides, all of the fake flowers and plants I had ever seen looked exactly that – FAKE.

But then I got to thinking, I would have a new backyard that came with my new home and I was given an opportunity to think more about how I would decorate this space. Sure I had patio and lawn furniture that I had purchased for our previous rental house’s amazing front porch, but outside of furniture, I didn’t really think of ways I could beautify and personalize this nice outdoor space.

Enter Silk Plants Direct! They have been importing, manufacturing, designing and installing silk plants and trees since the 1980’s. Today, they have grown into one of the most reputable silk plant and tree producers in the world. Silk Plants Direct let me choose any product I wanted up to $119. At first I thought selecting something from the website would be pretty easy, but I was surprised about a few things: 1) Silk Plants has a ton of inventory to select and buy from, 2) silk plants aren’t cheap, and 3) perhaps it is my discerning eye, but it took me awhile to find a few things that didn’t look too fake to me. After about an hour or so of scrolling through pictures and reading reviews, I settled on the Hibiscus Tree.

At the start of my searching for my perfect silk product, I pretty much knew from the start I was going to stay away from flowers and would either select a plant, a flowering tree, or fruit tree. Call me crazy, but I will always be a fan of fresh flowers. However, I have to say I am pretty pleased and impressed with my Hibiscus tree!

The plant itself isn’t flimsy at all, but sturdy and comes with a substantial potted container. (The tree is mounted or weighed down with either rock or cement, so it won’t tip over in the wind or rain). The tree stands at 4′ x 24″ x 24″, so it’s not tiny by any means.  It’s also PRETTY.

I love how full and vibrant the tree is.

I didn’t say anything to Tommy about receiving this tree from Silk Plants Direct or letting him know I had already displayed it and what did he think? I just waited a day or two to see if he would notice something different in the backyard and sure enough he did. He loved the tree next to our two-seater and asked where we had gotten it from.

A closer look.

Violet helping me out with my photo shoot.

Many thanks to Silk Plants Direct for offering me to review one of their products. I was pleasantly surprised at some of the good, quality products I found on their website, and will not be so dismissive of fake plants or trees anymore! I also may find myself ordering a product or two again from them.

Next up for this backyard project? Twinkle lights!