How to clean artificial flowers & plants

Artificial flowers and plants are incredibly realistic and convincing these days, but a layer of dust is likely to reveal their secret. 🕵️‍♂️ 

To help combat this, we've got some excellent tips for cleaning artificial flowers and plants below.

Cleaning silk flowers

Silk flowers need a little extra care than latex flowers because of their delicate nature. Using water, a damp cloth or any harsh chemicals to clean them might cause the colours to run, which we certainly wouldn’t want to happen! 😨

To find the best way to clean your artificial flowers watch our video guide below or read on for instructions.

Option 1: Using a damp cloth

With latex or real-touch flowers, like our artificial orchids or rose stems, a damp cloth is usually the best method for cleaning dust off of artificial flowers.

Just take a clean, damp cloth and wipe each flower carefully, making sure to get into all the small details, then leave them to dry.

We don’t recommend trying this on silk (or fabric) flowers as it might cause the colours to run.

Option 2: Try a cleaning spray

You can find a range of artificial flower cleaning sprays online that are fab for cleaning silk plants and flowers. They’re really good for bouquets that have got a little dusty or for your outdoor flower arrangements, they can also make your artificial flowers smell nice!

First, it’s best to do this method outdoors or use some newspaper or a towel to protect your surface. Then, test your cleaning spray on a hidden leaf to make sure the colours don’t run, then give your flowers a generous spray all over and leave to dry.

Option 3: Use a hair dryer or compressed air

Lastly, and the messiest of all options, is to use a hair dryer or a can of compressed air. This is the best way to quickly remove dust from your faux flowers.

This option works really well with more intricate flowers like our lisianthus or delphinium stem our artificial bouquets where a damp cloth or cleaning spray can’t reach the corners and creases.

When you’re ready, take your flowers outside or sit by an open window, and use your compressed air or hair dryer (on a cool setting) to clean your faux flowers.

Cleaning artificial plants

Along with a regular dust as part of your weekly routine, watch our video below where Sarah will walk you through four simple options to clean your artificial plants.

Option 1: Paintbrush

It’s always best to start at the top of your plant and work your way down. That way, you won’t find any dirt on the leaves you’ve already cleaned.

Simply take a paint brush and brush each piece of faux foliage until it’s clean and dust-free. For a small desktop plant, this should only take a minute or two but for larger trees and plants you might find it takes about 10-15 minutes. That said, this method will usually always produce the best result and is especially effective for getting into small nooks.

Option 2: Hairdryer / compressed air

Quick warning - this method is definitely the best if you’re short on time or if you're cleaning a large artificial plant, but it’s also very messy so we suggest taking your plant outside first.

As the heading suggests, all you need to do is grab your hairdryer (on a cool setting) or a can of compressed air and spray each piece of foliage until all the dust is gone 💨.

Option 3: A damp cloth

This step is similar to option one, but we don’t recommend this for more delicate plants to avoid any chance of the colour running.

Simply wipe each leaf with a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt. This method is great for removing stubborn marks and stuck-on dirt.

Option 4: Cleaning spray

There are a number of artificial plant cleaning sprays available online which work great on flowers and silk plants without causing any colours to run.

To use a silk plant cleaner, we suggest doing a patch test on a small hidden piece of foliage first to test the colour fastness. Once you’re happy, simply spray the leaves from top to bottom and leave to dry.

There’s no need to rinse it off or wipe it away so it’s a super quick and easy method, especially if you're cleaning large faux plants.

Need some help?

If you need any help whatsoever with cleaning your artificial flowers or plants, we’re always happy to help. Just get in touch or use our live chat feature.