Real vs Fake: These Strong Forms Make Impressive Artificial Desert Plants + Cacti

For a semi-arid touch we visited Sedona, Arizona. The plant palette going from Phoenix to Sedona included desert and high desert natives and was a good representation of iconic desert flora.

I found myself back from the trip looking at my Arizona photos because such nice memories before turbulence (Coronavirus + personal stuff) helps me feel better and is a HEALTHY ESCAPE.

Why? The beautiful images brings me back to this beautiful landscape.

And that’s what this post is about. If you’re looking to capture the beauty of the desert for whatever reason:

• can’t grow your own
• plants remind you of home…
• love the desert vibe

You can!!

I’m going to highlight (from Arizona trip) 4-iconic desert plants.

I’ve found that the artificial (faux) version is strangely real. Let’s have a look at the four. If you’re a plant person, there’s a short description along with the photo.

Artificial Plants Bring these Desert Icons to your Home, Office or Garden

The reason I hope you’ll find these “look alike plants” to be good choices is that not only do they represent the actual plant well, they also reflect the image of the southwest desert.

Here they are:

Saguaro Cactus… Agave… Prickly Pear Cactus… Barrel Cactus

 

These plants have very strong iconic forms.

Saguaro Cactus
Who knew? These cacti (plural for cactus) native to the Sonoran Desert live to 200 years. They are protected too. If you see an arm or two growing off the main branch, know that it took 50 years to get to this stage. Wow. I don’t know about you but thinking back to 1820 for some of these southwest desert natives when they first got their start gives me pause.

See Artificial Saguaro Cactus on Amazon.
See Saguaro Memorabilia at Etsy.

 

Agave
There are more than 200 species of Agave, many found growing in arid and semiarid regions of the Americas.  These succulents range from small to huge with much in between. Form is distinct, but varies between species. Iconic strappy foliage and symmetry make these xeric plants popular plants for containers and in the garden . Agaves can be offseting (have pups) or solitary.

See Artificial Agave on Amazon.

 

Prickly Pear Cactus

Santa Rita prickly pear has stunning violet-purple pads that are very round and have a spineless appearance. This species is typically found on gravelly or rocky hillsides in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, associated with grassland, and oak woodland. The non-spiny appearance + color of pads have made this a highly desirable, widely cultivated cactus in Southwest desert gardens and landscapes.

See Artificial Prickly Pear Cactus on Amazon.

 

Barrel Cactus
Visually unique this iconic cactus grows in globe or sphere form. You can see the golden spines line the ribs of this globe shaped cactus, with the top adorned by bright yellow flowers emerging from a patch of wool. These stunning yellow globes will add an architectural interest to your garden or container planting.

See Fake Barrel Cactus on Amazon.

 

If you want to learn more about the high desert flora of Sedona, Arizona take a look at this post. Hope you enjoyed this short post. Whether real or artificial, may these featured desert sweethearts make your days wonderful. 🙂

Happy Gardening!

Nicole