I Killed Every Plant I Ever Owned. These Two Have Survived Two Years.

June 12, 2026

CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Tree 2 Pack — large faux outdoor cedar trees in plastic pots flanking a front door, providing year-round low-maintenance greenery for porch and garden decoration

I need to be honest with you about something before I tell you about these trees: I have killed every plant I have ever owned. Not through neglect exactly — I try, I genuinely try — but through a combination of overwatering, underwatering, wrong light, wrong soil, wrong pot, wrong everything. I have killed succulents, which are supposed to be unkillable. I have killed a cactus. I once killed a plastic plant by leaving it in direct sunlight until it warped beyond recognition, which I didn't know was possible.

My name is Sandra. I'm 45, I live in Nottingham, and I have a front porch that I've wanted to look welcoming and green for years. Every time I've tried to achieve this with real plants, I've failed. The pots would sit there looking increasingly sad until I removed them in shame. I'd accepted that a green, lush front entrance was simply not something I was capable of maintaining.

The Turning Point

A neighbour two doors down had a pair of tall, elegant trees flanking her front door that always looked immaculate. I'd assumed they were real — she has a beautiful garden — and one afternoon I asked her about them. She laughed and told me they were artificial. She'd had them for three years. She'd never watered them once.

That conversation changed my thinking entirely. I'd always associated artificial plants with the kind of dusty, obviously fake greenery you see in office reception areas. What she had looked genuinely good. I started researching properly and found the CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Trees on ALTOE.

CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Tree — close-up showing the realistic foliage detail and adjustable branches of the faux cedar tree, demonstrating the lifelike appearance of the weather-resistant artificial plant — The foliage detail up close — adjustable branches that you can shape to look exactly how you want, and realistic enough to make people look twice.

Why These Specifically

The 95cm height was exactly right for my porch — tall enough to make a statement, not so tall they'd overwhelm the entrance. The 2-pack meant I could have one on each side of the door, which is the look I'd been trying to achieve with real plants for years. The weather-resistant materials were essential — these were going outside, in a British climate, through rain and wind and the occasional frost, and I needed them to hold up.

The adjustable branches were the detail that convinced me. Being able to manually shape the foliage means you can achieve a custom, lifelike look rather than the uniform, obviously-artificial shape that gives cheaper faux plants away. I spent about twenty minutes adjusting the branches when they arrived, and the result looked genuinely natural.

They also arrive in plastic pots, ready to place immediately. No repotting, no soil, no mess. I put them either side of my front door and stepped back to look. It was exactly what I'd been trying to achieve for years.

CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Tree shown in its plastic pot — demonstrating the ready-to-place design with no repotting required, suitable for immediate placement at front door or garden entrance — Arrives in a plastic pot, ready to place immediately — no soil, no repotting, no mess. Just put it down and step back.

Two Years On

I bought these trees two years ago. They are still outside my front door. They have been through two winters, multiple storms, a summer that was genuinely hot and a summer that was genuinely not. They look exactly as they did when I placed them. The colour hasn't faded. The foliage hasn't deteriorated. I have not watered them once, pruned them once, or worried about them once.

I have, however, received compliments on them. Several neighbours have asked what they are. One asked if I'd had them professionally planted. I told her they were artificial. She didn't believe me until she touched one.

CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Trees 2 Pack placed at a front entrance — showing both trees flanking a doorway, demonstrating the balanced professional-looking kerb appeal they create for a home entrance — Two years outside, two winters, multiple storms — still looking exactly like this. Not watered once.

What It Changed

My front entrance looks welcoming now. That sounds like a small thing but it isn't — it's the first thing you see when you come home, and the first thing visitors see when they arrive. For years it looked bare and slightly apologetic. Now it looks considered and green and like someone who knows what they're doing lives there.

I've also stopped feeling guilty about plants, which is a specific kind of low-level guilt I'd been carrying for years. The guilt of the person who wants greenery but can't keep it alive. These trees have resolved that completely. They're green, they're alive-looking, and they require absolutely nothing from me. That's the ideal relationship with a plant.

CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Tree — full height view showing the complete 95cm tree in its pot, demonstrating the scale and realistic cedar silhouette that makes these faux trees suitable for front porch and garden decoration — 95cm of weather-resistant, maintenance-free greenery — the ideal relationship with a plant for anyone who has ever killed a cactus.

If you've been wanting a green, welcoming front entrance but have accepted that you're not a plant person — you don't have to be a plant person. You just need the right plants.

You can find the CROSOFMI 95cm Artificial Cedar Trees on ALTOE. Browse the Artificial Trees collection for more options, explore the Artificial Flora range, or take a look at the full Decor and Home & Garden collections. The Latest Products collection always has something new worth discovering.

You don't have to be a plant person. You just have to find the right plants.

— Sandra Okafor, Nottingham