Artificial flowers - yay or nay?

My mother-in-law has the hydrangeas that she uses on her breakfast table and they look so real, I have to touch them every time to be sure.

I don't have any artificial flowers. If I want flowers, I'll cut something from the yard or pick up a bouquet at the grocery store. Or - like @peano - I'll use some items from nature like seed pods, moss, pretty weeds, sea shells, and other items to add to a table centerpiece.

OMG, there is a house that I pass almost every day on my way to the grocery store and they have tons of plastic flowers in their front flower beds. It is so obvious they are plastic and look ridiculous. I'm sure yours are better.

Good quality artificial flowers/greenery cost several times more than fresh flowers. For example, a bouquet of roses at Walmart might cost around $10 but a SINGLE quality artificial rose (not found in JoAnn Fabrics or Michael's type stores) can cost $10-20 or considerably more each. If you are judging artificial flowers on what you see at Hobby Lobby and the like, you are not actually educated on the subject. How do I know this, I know it because I have over 25 years experience as a florist and buyer and see the WIDE range of quality at international buying markets. There are artificials that are your dollar store variety and artificials so fine, there are no retail stores around me that sell them!! Do I have artificials in my home, no. I love the FEEL of fresh, alive flowers, branches, pine cones, etc..etc..

As far as weddings, I would never ever use artificial flowers for a one day event myself. I have done it many times, but do not like it. haha A good quality artificial bridal bouquet would cost so much more than fresh and what would you do with it after??

Added..... I want to say that I have many customers that LOVE artificial flowers.  The biggest seller are wreaths!!  You can make AMAZINGLY realistic fall wreaths with twigs, berries, and leaves and simply stunning pine wreaths that look gorgeous on front doors and such.  Also, many, many people have artificial pine trees at Christmas.  I do not, but can respect and serve those who do.

She painted the sun bleached flowers???  That is so cute!!  love!!

They don't bother me- obviously, because I hve some. Just yesterday dd, home for a visit, asked if some were real.

I do have some fall decor with artificial flowers & leaves, but otherwise, no, I don't use them in my home. However, we decorated with & carried artificial flowers at my wedding, because a church full of real flowers would have made a mess of me due to allergies.

I lived through the aftificial greenery everywhere 90s so I don't really like lots of flowers and plants everywhere. I have two plants in my home and they are in a perpetually dying state. Someday they will kick the bucket, but in the meantime they look terrible. But, hey, they are real!

I do have one medium sized peony bouquet on my piano. I couldn't find anything else I liked for that spot. It works and I certainly couldn't afford to keep a bouquet constantly on my piano. Yes, real is better, but not everyone can afford to buy flowers all the time. (And yes, I'm talking grocery store flowers. My husband is under strict instructions to never buy me florist flowers because they cost so much I could never enjoy them.)

As a previous poster said the really nice silk flowers are pricey. A friend of mine had some hydrangeas and they were gorgeous. $24.00 per stem!

I buy fresh bunches of flowers at trader Joe's or the grocery or cut things from my yard.

My MIL, bless her heart, puts really gaudy ones in hanging baskets around her pool. You know what? She forgets to water real ones and she likes them so that's all that matters.

Traditionally not a fan, but I did a double-take at Costco just yesterday. They had a large selection of arrangements of artificial flowers so realistic looking that I had a hard time convincing myself that they were not real! Gorgeous! They were in lovely pots and varied in size. Prices I saw were between $70-230. I thought of our church, where we buy fresh flowers for the altar table every week. We have a small congregation and a small budget... and I think these might be just right. A lot of them were orchids.

Does the big vase of paper flowers my kids all made through pre-school count? You know the tissue paper tied with a pipe cleaner.

By and large, nay. I do have one bunch of hydrangeas only because I can't get dried ones that are that vibrant.

My mother, the master gardener and plant grower extrodinaire, would make all kinds of frowny faces if I had fake any kind of plant in my house. On the other hand, she knows that I kill every thing green thing I touch. So the solution is to avoid the subject altogether. 

So not fake flowers/greenery and no live plants. Every once in a blue moon I get flowers from someone or another and try like crazy to keep them looking good for longer than an hour or two. 

Realistic looking ones in small quantities, yes.

Many of my clients for silks and non-living arrangement were people who live in retirement communities and can't necessarily get out often enough to buy fresh flowers. They were often looking to add color and nature to their rooms without burdening the resident w having to care for a live plant or fresh flowers.

There were also many people purchasing floral arrangements for placing seasonally at the cemetery.