Real vs artificial hanging plants
Updated: 21 October 2026
The search result is a plastic vine in a 9 cm pot, and the plant you meant was a pothos you could water. Real vs artificial hanging plants is that fork: a living trailer that grows, rots or poisons a pet, or a faux pack from £8.99 to £16.99 that will not grow. The ten listings are on our [hanging plant comparison](/hub/houseplants/hanging-plant). Care lines are from the Royal Horticultural Society, the PDSA and BBC Gardeners’ World, not a grow-test. Peter F. checked this on 20 October 2026. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
The search result is a plastic vine in a 9 cm pot, and the plant you meant was a pothos you could water.
The search result is a plastic vine in a 9 cm pot, and the plant you meant was a pothos you could water. Real vs artificial hanging plants is that fork: a living trailer that grows, rots or poisons a pet, or a faux pack from £8.99 to £16.99 that will not grow. The ten listings are on our hanging plant comparison. Care lines are from the Royal Horticultural Society, the PDSA and BBC Gardeners’ World, not a grow-test. Peter F. checked this on 20 October 2026. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Leaf shape | Stated drop | Parcel weight | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Der Rose Der Rose four-pack, mixed trails | Pearls, eucalyptus, fern, pothos | 20.1, 24.4, 31.5 and 33.9 in | 992 g | 9.1 | about £14.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  Der Rose Der Rose eucalyptus, one pot | Eucalyptus | About 24 in | 227 g | 8.6 | about £8.99 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Lafecuw Lafecuw two-pack, 100 cm | Ivy type | 100 cm | 454 g | 8.3 | about £10.99 | View offer |
On this page
Two different products
Nothing in this comparison is alive. Der Rose, Lafecuw, DazSpirit, DREAMS 21, BTSD-home, HeeTeem, SSB and JISRKP are plastic stems. Pothos, eucalyptus, fern and string of pearls are leaf shapes on those pages. A fake string of pearls will not lengthen if you water it. The four-pack’s bullets say there is no watering.
A live hanging plant is compost, light and a heavy basket. A watered basket around 30 cm can weigh several kilograms, a seller rule of thumb, against faux parcels of about 170 g to 1.07 kg. Choosing plastic because a cat eats live plants is a coherent reason. It is not a claim that the plastic cleans the air.
When a live trailer works
You need daylight and a watering habit. The RHS says a bathroom with plenty of natural light can suit houseplants, and that a bathroom with no windows is not suitable for live plants.
Epipremnum, the plant most people mean by pothos, wants bright indirect light and is toxic around children and pets. The faux pothos in the Der Rose packs is not that species. Ivy, Hedera, is on the PDSA poisonous-plants list. Faux ivy from Lafecuw is plastic, not a cutting. String of hearts is the hanging plant the RHS names.
String of beads can trail about 90 cm and rots if it stays wet. The fake pearls in the four-pack are stated at 20.1 inches and will stay that length.
Pets, children and poison
The RHS tells you to keep Epipremnum away from children and pets. The PDSA lists Hedera. Those are living plants. A plastic vine is not those species, and it is not a tested chew toy. None of these listings claims a pet-safe plastic. A puppy that eats a faux leaf can still choke. The difference is poison from the plant’s chemistry, which the faux pack does not have, against a foreign body, which it might.
If a pet has chewed live ivy or live pothos, contact a vet. Do not hang a living trail over a cat tree. A wet basket needs a proper bracket, because the weight is in kilograms, not in the 454 g Lafecuw parcel.
When faux is the better buy
Buy plastic when there is no daylight, when you will not water, or when you are away often enough that a string of beads would sit wet or bone dry. The RHS line on a windowless bathroom is the clearest case: live plants are not suitable there. Humidity from showers does not replace a window. That room is fake hanging plants for a bathroom.
The recommendation is conditional. Buy a living trailer when the room has daylight, pets cannot reach a toxic species, and you will let a succulent dry out. If any of those fails, buy a faux pack and do not water it.
Common questions
Will a fake string of pearls grow?
No. The string-of-pearls piece in the Der Rose four-pack is plastic, with a stated drop of 20.1 inches, and the bullets say you do not water it. A living string of beads can trail about 90 cm, according to the RHS, and it stops doing that if the compost stays wet. The faux sprig stays the length you unpacked, including any stems that arrive crushed.
Which live trailer does the RHS single out as a hanging plant?
The RHS names string of hearts as its best hanging plant. Epipremnum is the toxic trailing aroid. String of beads is the succulent that can trail about 90 cm and rot if kept wet. None of those is an ASIN in this comparison. The plastic packs use those names as leaf shapes, and they will not grow into the trail a mature living plant can reach.
Why do string-of-pearls stems rot?
They stay too wet. The RHS says string of beads should dry between waterings and rots if kept wet, around 10–25°C. BBC Gardeners’ World says mushy pearls or black stems mean overwatering. A plastic sprig cannot rot that way, and watering it will not revive a leaf that was never alive.
Is pothos safe around cats?
Live Epipremnum is not. The RHS says it is toxic and should be kept from children and pets. A faux pothos in a Der Rose pot is not that plant, and it is still not sold as a chew toy. If a cat has already chewed a live pothos, call a vet. If the cat chews any plant you bring in, the faux packs are the side of this choice that avoids that toxin, not a guarantee about plastic in a mouth.
Is ivy safe around dogs?
The PDSA lists Hedera among poisonous plants. Faux ivy is plastic shaped like ivy, not a pet-safety test and not a chew toy. If a dog has chewed live ivy, call a vet rather than waiting to see. That is the PDSA’s territory, not a comparison-site judgement.
Can a live plant survive a windowless bathroom?
The RHS says a bathroom with no windows is not suitable for live plants. Humidity does not replace daylight. If there is a bright window and you will water, a living trailer can still be the right plant, and toxic species stay away from pets. A frosted panel that never throws a shadow is the same practical problem as no window.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources named below. amazon.co.uk prices, stars and review counts on these ten listings were taken from the category files, shelf date 20 October 2026. Page updated 21 October 2026.
- RHS: best bathroom plants (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- RHS: Epipremnum growing guide (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- PDSA: poisonous plants (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 11 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, article 3 (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: fire safety risk assessment for small and medium places of assembly (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- Kent Fire and Rescue: artificial or dried foliage (retrieved 20 October 2026)
- IKEA FEJKA artificial potted plant, hanging (retrieved 20 October 2026)