Today's Special Value

[PINKdogWOOD]

@Calcgirl  I can't believe faux flowers.  I shudder everytime I see hanging baskets like these.  I get that these may be a good alternative for folks who may not be able to shop for real and make their own.

We have a wisteria that drapes our garage that's at least 65 years old.  Blooms every spring light to medium purple tendrils, just lovely.

It's me, I know, faux just gets to me.

It's just so easy to buy all that you need to make a hanging basket, gives you the chance to be creative, plant off the plants and flowers that rocks your own piece of the world.

And you can do it for the same price.

[SilleeMee]

I can only think of one word that I would use to describe this tsv, or any other fake plant for that matter...cheesy. 

[fthunt]

This price is the same ($49.99) they had several years ago.  I'll admit this selection isn't very real looking; but I bought 3 one year cuz I didn't have time to mess with dirt - planters and watering.  They were still decent looking after 3 years - so you divide cost by 3 or 4 years and I call that a bargin......and NO work!  Real plants die after the season so you have to rebuy and rebuy every year.

The lights - never used them because who strings lights in their plants?   That's where part of the $50 cost goes - wires - bulbs - and labor.

[PINKdogWOOD]

@fthunt  Well yes real does die but this is where your personal creativity jump starts.  You can easily change out your choices of real, change color scheme, just so lovely. 

These faux just collect dust.

No butterflies, hummingbirds will ever land on your faux.

[Trix]

I am an avid gardener and landscaper, but do not despise artificial flowers. There are some places (indoors and outdoors) where artificial is a very sensible option for floral beauty and color.  

I agree with QGirl2 that for a better quality arrangement with a decorative container, you would be near or over $50 even at Michael's.  As an example using a coupon an exquisite winter holiday arrangement I ourchased from Michael's was priced at $80. With one of their coupons it was reduced to $48.  I wanted it lit, and the micro lights which I purchased separately at Ace Hardware brought the total price for my piece close to $60.  If that doesn't convince you the TSV price is reasonbale check out the website petals.com.  Petals has been around for years and they are a retailer of artifical plants and flowers.  A basket arrangement like the TSV would be at least $79, and more likely $100 -- with no lights.

[aggravated]

I've had two on my covered front porch for, I believe, four years.  While the lights have not worked after the first month, the flowers still look great.  I've had visitors say in the driveway how nice the "flowers" look and then I have to confess they are artificial.  I tried for 15 years to have real baskets on that porch, husband doesn't care for ferns, everything died - all different kinds of flowers. The cost for me after years has been minimal and they are, repeating, still great looking.

[brandiwine]

This is a complete joke.  How much fading in the sun?  We get rain and hail, no way these would last.  Summertime and fake flowers.  They must think their customers are really stupid. 

[ValuSkr]

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@Caaareful Shopper wrote:

I've never understood that pairing -- lights in flower arrangements. 

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I don't get that either!  

I'm not a fan of artificial plants outside, I don't think they fool anyone.  And then there are the people in my condo community that leave arrangements like the TSV outside year-round, even in the dead of winter, as if they have a miraculous green thumb.

[millieshops]

Can't speak for the ones in the TSV, but i can tell you that more than 30 years ago, a friend and colleague were out shopping and I was looking at some silk flowers.  She insisted they were way too expensive (they probably were considering my income at the time) so I passed them up and looked where she suggested. 

Thirty+ years later I am so, so glad I went back and bought those expensive flowers!  Their first display was in a large market basket which sat alongside my buffet for a long time.  Almost all those stems are still in use somewhere in my home -  they haven't really faded, they've kept their shape beautifully they've gone well with each new room I've put together, and, probably most important, I still love them.  In the meantime, way less expensive flowers have come and gone and actually been more expensive in a weird way.

Not sure I'd do a lighted basket, but it's not price alone that would keep me away. If I wanted to put that basket in a remote corner, I'd probably buy as cheap as possible but where I could actually see and touch -  I want the very nicest I can afford.   My only experience with a QVC basket was seeing one on a SIL's deck -  it was mixed in with real and for the first 3 days of my visit, I thought the fakes were real, too!!  Sad to say -  I have no idea if they were Bethlehem lighted!

[Witchy Woman]

I resisted "silk" flowers for years.   After spending over and over for plants to fill my containers, (and having them die or be eaten by deer), I gave up gardening.  What the deer didn't eat, the slugs would.

Years ago I bought two giant baskets in a woven-look concrete.  They sit at the bottom of our front entry steps.  I bought two huge ferns to fill them and now, they look lovely all the time  Sometimes, I forget they are fake (for a split second).

Then, there was the year I tried hanging baskets on my large, wrap around porch.  What a mess.  I had to take them up and down to water or they would drip for hours onto the railing/porch.  The dirt stained everything.  Not to mention, the plants needed watering all the time.  I spent the summer nursing them along and they NEVER looked really good.

I'm not saying I'll get the TSV, but after 25 years of trying to make real flowers work, I see the advantage (sometimes) to using fake flowers.

As to the price, they aren't really out of line from what I've seen.

And, I've made my own arrangements through the years.  Supplies (even on sale and with a coupon) are not cheap.