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Pottery Barn had (pre-Fall season) loose stems of succulents. There may be some stragglers still left in stores or online.

Crate & Barrel also has a way-cool faux succulent wreath out right now... maybe, if not interested in it in wreath form, you could buy one and "strip it for parts".

Well, I agree with Maxwell that real plants are nicer, but sometimes there are factors.... crawling babies, allergies, dogs that dig in the pots when there's real dirt in there...

I don't know what their real name is, but the succulents called hens and chicks are truly indestructible and look lovely in bowls.

And I'm a sucker for a good fat jade tree.

Please, Paul, I beg you: buy a real succulent! Succulents are incredibly low maintenance. I have kept two succulents alive for two years now, vastly beating my record of six weeks for all other plant forms. Echeveria is particularly difficult to kill; indeed, it's difficult to slow down.

I don't care how care-free a plant is supposed to be, if you are as guilty as I am of serial negligent botanicide, it's a good thing to know about yourself. I have 3 fake plants in my living room, and they look real enough to me, and I love them. So ... if you know yourself well enough to realize you're not going to remember watering plants, I say, "follow your heart(lessness)".

And yes, the Flower District has several good fake plants places; one is called PANY, and the proprietress is cranky, but the stuff is pretty. That's on the south side of the street, slightly toward the 7th Avenue end of the block about half-way across.

On the north side of the street, slight more easterly is an ENORMOUS place (the name which I forget) where the people are very sweet, and that's where I got the fake peace lilly and its pot that's next to my TV.

real succulents is the only way to go!

you can get some amazing species online at
http://www.gosucculent.com/

i ordered a bunch, they all came to me just fine and are thriving in my overheated apartment! they just love that dry air.

I myself have killed 2 jade plants, so I'm not so sure about them being maintenance-free.

Ok Ok, I'll try some real ones. I agree that real is better than fake (anything, anywhere). I was under the impression that most of the succulents were at least semi-tropical. I just wasn't imagining my partially-shadowed Washington Heights windows were sunny or warm enough...

i have left mine for weeks at a time without watering. in fact succulents do not take well to those mothering types like me that run around the apartment carrying a watering can all the time. fake succulents are tacky but i can sympathize with your botanicidical ways!

while we're on the silk/fake flower topic I'd like to jump in with my own question.

This year I'm doing the family christmas tree tropical style (it's in Jamaica) and I am after some reasonably realistic tropical silk/fake flowers that come in various sizes. Red ginger, bird of paradise, hibiscus etc.

Anyone have suggestions for resources in NYC oron the web? Preferably in NYC so I could get a feel for how realistic they look.

danae--
Curtis mentioned some sources above. If you can get out to the 'burbs, you can't beat Michael's.
And also try Pier 1.

With succulents you really have to watch for mealybugs. Go over the plant with a Q-Tip and rubbing alcohol, especially in the little crevices.

Yet another reason to vote for faux.

danae-
Also look at places like Odd Lot, or Weber's or 99-cent stores or anything else that sells close-out stuff, because you really never know what you'll see there. I saw some plastic fruit at a 99-cent store in Smithtown, Long Island a few weeks ago, for instance, which would have been good for this. And sometimes I've seen (years ago) a whole bag of cheap plastic fruit for 99-cents, which I painted to look more realistic and made a cornice with. It was hilariously beautiful.

The real succulents are beautiful, and I have them sprinkled throughout my garden. I have seen the living wreaths made from them, and always thought I'd like to have one, but know it would be doomed from day one. While real succulents are virtually maintenance free, I've got a brown thumb when it comes to potted and indoor plants. No reason to invest in living botanicals when you can neglect the fakes that look very nearly real, and in my opinion just as beautiful. It took me almost a year to find various retail suppliers of high quality artificial succulents that I could combine into a fake succulent wreath. Not to mention it was pretty expensive. But the result was spectacular enough that everyone that sees it wants one. No turning, no watering, no pruning. I'm thrilled Crate & Barrel offers them now... lets me off the hook a bit. One supplier I found that had some very nice stems (not to mention great service) is earthflora.com. Check out the wreath I created from their fab fakes: http://www.fly-by-night.net/wreath5.jpg

I am late to this conversation..but found it because I too want faux succulents. They are sooo expensive when I have seen them and rarely loose so I can arrange them myself. Some one somewhere is making fabulous ones but I can't find a source. Help anyone? And I want the really good ones you can't tell from real. I live in central Calif. I will try earth flora as suggested by michelle.

Hi- Just reveived a wreath of succulents that I ordered from Crate and Barrel on sale. It was reduced from $129.95 to $39.95. The artificial botanicals are hard to tell from the real thing until you touch them. Some even seem real to the touch. It was on backorder but I got it right away (4 days) ordering online. The wreath is very large and heavy and has more than $75.00 worth of faux succulents alone in my opinion. Thanks for the lead from this group!