Semi-Faux Yellow Forsythia Branches (And 4 More Tips To Make Them Look Really Real!)

I love the big vases filled with huge branches that I keep seeing on the pages of my favorite home magazines and on some lovely decorated spaces on Pinterest. They’re such a striking accent in any room, they add the color that sometimes is missing – especially in monochromatic spaces, and they bring nature into the indoors. As long as they’re big and impressive, you can’t go wrong with any kind, whether it’s just simple greenery or flowered branches!

Of course, I prefer the real ones and I sometimes buy a seasonal fresh branch or two from Trader Joe’s, or I even cut a handful straight out of the backyard of the houses we rent.  But real ones come at a price when you have to buy them. Plus, they don’t last very long.

To mimic the impressive look of such big branches,  I’ve been tempted to buy fake ones in the past, and although the flowers do look like they’re real with their beautiful colors and nicely shaped petals, there are still a couple of details that reveal their true state: first,  it’s the look of the branch itself that is most of the times made of plastic, and second all the branches are identical in size, and they have identical blooms and leaves. Nothing like the real ones! Of course, they last forever and that’s something to consider..

So, to get the best of each world, and inspired by my DIY Christmas Pine Branches, I made some semi-faux yellow forsythia branches that look so real that they are almost fooling me!

I used a few real branches cut from the backyard,

and one branch of fake yellow forsythia bought from the craft store.

This one is really inexpensive (especially when it’s on sale with an additional 40% off)!

With scissors, I cut off the fake blooms and I used a glue gun to  re-attach them onto the real branch (don’t own a glue gun yet? They only cost a few dollars and you’ll be able to make so many projects! – either way, I guess a strong liquid glue would work too!)

The result? Beautiful semi-faux yellow forsythia branches that will last forever!

I decided to cover only a small part of each branch with flowers, just as if all the blooms were not all yet open, but you can attach as many flowers as you want and of course, make a larger arrangement.

Any type of small flower will work to recreate these branches.  I’m thinking of white flowers for a summer arrangement, pink or purple for Easter and some kind of dark orange for fall.

Only when you get in that close, can you maybe tell that these flowers are fake. .

As I was filling the vase with my new branches, I thought I would share a few more tips that will make my semi-faux branches look even more real!

I’m using a a transparent glass vase, my branches are natural, so why not add water just as I would do for regular flowers! It’ s a trick that will take away any dubious thought that one may have about these flowers being fake. I just have to remember to change the water frequently and I absolutely have to let the branches dry before storing them away until I need them again.

These branches have been roughly cut  from the tree and their ends are uneven, just like real ones!

One or two blooms that are casually placed on the table under the vase, look as if they’ve just fallen off the bouquet!

I didn’t think of this before, but at the time these branches were cut, they already had buds that were ready to blossom.  Eventually, most of them will fall off as they dry even more, but in the meantime they look just as if they are about to open! So if that’s an option, consider cutting branches with buds.

p.s. As I was finishing typing this post, I thought I’d take a look at the Pottery Barn site and see what kind of faux branches they carry, Well, they have Faux Yellow Forsythia Branches for $39.50 each. Mine look just the same, but they’re half real and they cost me only $4.00 and a few drops of glue!