LeeLee (short for Kali, Multi-colored Destroyer of Worlds), who passed away in 2016, loved sitting underneath this palm. In fact, any of the the palms I had around–if they were indoors–became her favorite places to sit.

I’m not great with plants, and I never have been—even when I was sixteen years old and bought a Royal Palm (back in the 1980s, they didn’t sell them all over the place in the Northeast like they do now, so this was a very exciting thing), studied how to take care of it, and was super attentive, it still died.

Back in the summer of 2014, I was out shopping with my friend Michele for painting supplies–we were doing some touch-up work on a couple of things in my house. I spied these adorable little Sago Palms for ten bucks–and absolutely had to have them. I bought four.

One of the original Sago Palms I bought. I ended up, by the end of the summer of 2014, purchasing four.

A second Sago Palm.

So in love was I with those, I went out and bought a much larger Royal Palm and a Snake Plant.

This is a royal palm. I love the planter–I think I got it at Christmas Tree Shops. Now that I no longer have real plants (mostly), I have some nice planters that I’d still like to use; I’m still trying to figure out if maybe I can set a nice fake one inside this without it looking too tacky.

Royal Palm close up.

The Snake Plant that won’t die and that has been repotted three times. Here’s what it looked like when I bought it in 2014. Again, another planter I love that I have to find a use for.

Three years later, it’s only the snake plant that’s still alive – and it’s a beast! I’ve had to repot it three times, and it’s survived. I was heartbroken when the palm trees died, and my initial plan was simply to replace them when they did.

This is, again, a shot of the Snake Plant that Won’t Die. It’s really out of control. Can we trim the leaves? I guess I should Google that.

Then I considered my track record as well as the annual cost. At four Sago Palms, that was $40 per year. The Royal Palm was $20. So that was $60 a year, excluding pots when they grew larger, soil, and other incidentals.

Anyone who knows me understands I’m a huge fan of Pier 1 Imports, and over the years I had been impressed with the quality of most of their faux plants; it was always the high price point (we’re talking between $150 and $200) that stopped me. When I thought about how much money I’d save over a certain number of years–a $150 Royal Palm would pretty much pay for itself in three summers, and any thing beyond that is gravy. It would be much more economical to go faux, and the only care involved would be dusting. In addition, I could move them between indoor and outdoor at any time.

Here is the very first Pier 1 fake plant that I bought. I just love it–the leaves even feel real! I forget what kind of plant it is. I get lots of compliments on it.

Here’s the Pier 1 fake palm. I really love it and am considering getting a second one for the front foyer (though what I’m going to do with the snake plant, I’m not sure — maybe move it into the living room).

A close up of the Pier 1 fake palm tree leaves. It’s amazing–they’re plastic, but they definitely look and feel real.

This is the dining room, where (at least for now) the fake palm tree lives.

This replaces the succulent I bought (and somehow successfully got home on an airplane) in the summer of 2016. This fake arrangement from Pier 1 very much reminds me of all of the desert plants I saw on the hiking trails in Austin’s Hill Country.

I’m really happy with my new Pier 1 plants, and I do plan on purchasing more eventually. Maybe having a black thumb isn’t so bad after all!