Many people express surprise that my potted poinsettias are not real plants. They are fakes, artificial, silk, whatever term you’d like to use, and thus have been “blooming” reliably every December for, gosh I don’t know, at least five years maybe ten.
I don’t know if people are surprised because the poinsettias look so real or if they are surprised because I, a known gardener, would have a fake plant.
My reason for having these fake poinsettias is because where I have them, on a fireplace hearth, is no place for a real plant. I’d have to move them every time there was a fire going in the fireplace and there isn’t enough light there, anyway.
There wasn’t enough light for anything today. It was so gloomy, rainy that I looked forward to sunset because then at least it would just be dark, but we’ll discuss that some other time.
It was a good day to go to some local greenhouses to check out their poinsettia displays, which is just what I did, but more on that later, too. (The picture above is of some of the poinsettias I saw at one of those greenhouses.)
For now, how about a quiz on poinsettias? Can you tell if a poinsettia is real or fake? Even Jodi at Bloomingwriter noted, “In recent years ‘silk’ poinsettias and other flowers have become so lifelike that it’s hard to tell the difference until you touch one.”
Here’s the quiz…
Poinsettia No. 1 – Real or fake?
Poinsettia No. 2 – Real or fake?
Are you sure?
One last one…
Poinsettia no. 3 – Real or fake?
Leave your answers in the comments. I’ll reveal the answers tomorrow and also tell you more about two places where poinsettias, real poinsettias, are on display in Indianapolis. 
One and three are real, two is fake. In fact two is so obviously fake that I’m worried you’re tricking me with one of the others. I won’t sleep tonight because of it!
I agree with steven!!! 2 is very fake.
Tee hee hee… this is difficult. I am always nervous when taking a test. I say 1 & 2 Fake, #3 is real. I can’t wait to see the answer.
Owwhh. How spooky. OK – here’s my guess. One is fake, two is real, three – not sure which way to jump – I’ll go real. How much fun is this? What a laugh.
One and three are real, two is fake. It was only obvious to me when I enlarged the photo, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to tell for sure.
Hi there! What a fun quiz! I am going to have to take a guess! I am going to guess that all 3 are fake????? LOL…I know I am worng!
Ok. Number 2: Fake
Number 3: Real
Number 1: Undecided but I will lean toward fake.
I’ll agree with 2 being fake…and I think the other two (numbers 1 and 3) are real. I am unable to keep a poinsettia looking good for more than a few weeks…the fake one is tempting…but we get e free poinsettia from our local grocer each year so I’m sticking with that.
I’m guessing this is a trick quiz and all three are fake, although 1 and 3 are the best fakes I’ve ever seen.
I did the same thing that Robin did – is enlarging the photos cheating? real/fake/real
Before I read the comments and enlarged the photos I decided
1 = real
2 = fake, it has a loose thread
3 = real
Low light helps keep people quessing.
Guessing again
I think No.1 and 2 are fake. Three looks real. But than again . . .
I think number 3 is the only real one, but I agree that most of them look so life-like it’s hard to tell anymore. And Carol, you could go buy one of those glittery ones, you know. Hee hee.
Chigiy at Gardener’s Anonymous said:
I have this terrible feeling that I’m going to be tricked.
Here goes, 1&2 are fake and 3 is real.
One and three are real, two is fake. I can see part of a leaf that’s missing on number three. Enlarging does help!
I have a fake one I use every year, too. Mine’s ivory though.
Poinsettias always look fake to me, so I’m at a loss here. 2 is definetely fake; of the others I’m not sure.
Neat idea, though, Carol.
Late weighing in here…if it’s not Blogger being stupid, it’s my ISP becoming bogged down. I’d say that numbers 1 and 3 are real and #2 is synthetic. Certainly you have valid reasons for using silk ones where you do (I use some of them too, and for the same reasons.) But I do love the real ones–so long as they’re not sprayed or dyed blue….
Without remembering the answers, I say Fake, Fake, Fake.