Artistic Twist Makes Plants And Gardens Sparkle

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - I thought at first they were fake, but it turns out that for years now, people have been glittering real plants. That is, spraying paint and glitter onto poinsettias, for example, to make them more colorful (even orange or blue!), or more festive, or more something else they don't find the plants to be naturally.

Dried flowerheads have long been dyed for indoor decorating. But these days people are even spray-painting dead flowerheads outdoors too, in order to brighten a garden when Nature's brilliance has faded to brown.

A lot of people find it fun, and while painting dead flowerheads shouldn't hurt anything much, a living plant may not be able breathe as well with glue and glitter on it. So, the adorned plants may not last as long as plain poinsettias, which may not matter to you if you always toss yours soon after the holidays anyway.

Just make sure to put the sparkly parts of your plant in the trash. You definitely don't want any paint, glue, or plasticky glitter in your compost pile.