Grandiflora Magnolia Stem

Sold as a single stem. Buy three or five, not two or four.

85cm is a long stem, which gives you options. Used full length in a floor vase or a tall vessel it reaches well over a metre once arranged; cut down, it suits a console vase or a mantel arrangement.

The rule of thumb is a finished arrangement about one and a half times the height of the vessel. For a 30cm vase you want around 45cm of stem showing, so trim accordingly.

Buy in odd numbers. Three stems in a wide-mouthed vessel is the arrangement this foliage suits best. Five for a large floor vase. Two looks sparse, four looks arranged.

The lower section is bare, which is deliberate. It lets the stem sit deep in a vessel without foliage crushing at the rim, and it is where you cut.

The bronze underside is what separates good faux foliage from obvious faux foliage.

Real magnolia grandiflora has a glossy dark green face and a copper-brown, felted reverse, and it is one of the few leaves where both sides are regularly visible at once. Here the curled leaves show that bronze underside exactly as they should, and it is the detail your eye reads as real before you have consciously looked.

The leaves are broad and leathery with a raised central vein and a slight waxy sheen, moulded rather than printed flat. Magnolia foliage has real substance in life, and a thin floppy leaf would give it away immediately.

The stem branches naturally rather than running straight, with leaves at genuinely different angles and a textured bark finish on the woody lower section. Regularity is what makes cheap faux stems look wrong, and there is very little regularity here.

There is a wire core through the stem, so branches can be bent and adjusted to fill a vessel properly rather than sitting where the box left them.

• Bronze leaf undersides, the detail that makes faux magnolia convincing
• Broad leathery leaves with raised veining and a waxy sheen
• Naturally branching, with leaves at genuinely varied angles
• Bendable wire core, so you can shape it to the vessel
• 85cm long, usable full length or cut down
• Foliage rather than florals, so it never looks out of season
• No watering, no drop, no light needed
• Works in a dark corner where a real plant would never survive

This is the whole method. Three stems in a wide-mouthed stoneware vessel, bent so they fan rather than stand parallel. More stems does not mean better.

The two-tone leaf is the feature, so rotate a few so the copper reverse faces out. Every leaf glossy side forward is the arrangement that looks flat.

Cut one stem shorter than the others. Three stems at identical heights reads as a bunch; three at varied heights reads as a branch someone cut.

A dark hallway corner, a windowless cloakroom, the top of a tall cabinet. Faux foliage earns its place in the spots real greenery cannot survive, which is the honest argument for it.

Faux florals date themselves seasonally and always look slightly wrong out of season. Green foliage does not, which is why it is the better investment.

Dust the leaves every few weeks with a soft dry cloth or a feather duster. Broad glossy leaves show dust more than fine foliage does, and dusty faux greenery is what makes it look fake.

Do not stand it in water. If your vessel holds water for real stems, keep this one dry. Water can lift the leaf coating and mark the wire.

Shape it once, properly. The wire core will take repeated bending, but working it back and forth in the same spot weakens it over time. Decide the shape and leave it.

Cut with secateurs, not scissors. There is wire inside the stem, and household scissors will neither cut it cleanly nor survive the attempt.

Keep it out of strong direct sun. Faux foliage fades like anything else, and a stem in a sunny window will lose its depth of green within a couple of years.

What to expect. Leaf positions vary slightly from stem to stem, which is deliberate. It is what stops a group of three looking like three copies of the same thing.

It ships as a long parcel, and the leaves may need a little reshaping after unpacking. Current timescales and charges are set out on our delivery page.

Not sure how many stems you need for the vessel you have? Send us the measurements and we will tell you. Reach us via our contact page or live chat.

If it is not right, our returns process is straightforward, and everything is covered by our guarantees and warranties.

Our price match promise stands if you find the same piece for less elsewhere. Dressing a holiday let or a showhome? Ask about trade accounts.