Faux stems, potted greenery and hanging plants that never need water

The tell on a fake plant is never the leaf. It is the stem: too even in color, too regular in the way it leaves the pot. Look for a stem with a bend in it, and a pot heavy enough that it does not tip when your sleeve catches the leaves on the way past.

Faux stems earn their place in three spots in particular: above a kitchen cupboard where nothing can be watered, in a rented bathroom, and in a macrame hanger over a sofa, where a real pot would eventually drip on something you care about.