WALKING out onto her garden decking, Tina Tombs, 42, passed her guests flutes of Champagne.
As music plays the mum-of-two ensured her visitors enjoyed the evening sunset and the tray of delicate canapes she has prepared.
It looked like they were in Corfu or Marbella – not Maldon, Essex.
Some were seated on the three-piece outdoor lounge and others were admiring the purple wisteria hanging from the gazebo.
It was the kind of garden you’d see in a fancy magazine.
“Your garden is amazing! How have you got the hanging plants to bloom so well?” asked one guest.
“I bet you use a special fertiliser on these plants. The flowers are gorgeous,” said another.
What they didn’t know was that everything was fake and bought from shops including The Range and Home Gardens.
In fact mum-of-two Tina hated gardening.
She said: “My garden is always blooming. My plants don’t need watering. I steam iron the flower. I use Fairy Liquid on the leaves. I even use nail polish to make my garden sparkle.
“The views are amazing. No one knows it’s fake. My backyard is blooming marvellous.
“I turned our garden from a tip full of rubble, overgrown bushes, dumped garbage and broken glass into an oasis of beautiful blooms but nothing is actually growing.”
“My flowers are fake. Their leaves are fabric. The garlands aren’t real. The wisteria doesn’t need watering. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I don’t need to weed, seed or repot plants.
“My faux garden makeover cost a few thousand and it’s a paradise.”
Former recruitment consultant Tina, who lives with her husband, James 36, a business development manager and their children, Nora, 4, and one-year-old Theo said: “We bought our three-bedroom semi in 2018. The back garden was an absolute tip.
“It was a jungle of brambles and weeds. Someone had dumped metal and rubbish in it. There were uneven concrete slabs. It was unusable.
“I was working as a recruitment consultant doing 11-hour days. I didn’t have the time to spend every weekend gardening.
I decided to turn it into a beautiful usable space which required minimum upkeep but was full of flowers and colour.
Tina Tomb
Tina’s husband ‘strimmed’ and cut back all the bushes and the couple filled five skip loads of garden rubble and rubbish before she could create their ‘faux floral paradise’.
“We added a small utility room to the side of the property. Then we decked large portions of the back yard.
“I loved doing flower crafting and was selling faux floral wreaths, bouquets and garlands on Etsy.
“When my daughter was born in 2019, I started experimenting with using fake flowers in the garden.”
Tina bought an extra-large three-piece garden sofa set with a table from xxxx.
“I found the perfect all-weather carpet for the decking.
To add colour Tina used hundreds of fake flowers in garlands, wreaths and pots keeping her sofa section of the garden alive.
But it wasn’t typical garden tools like rakes and spades talented Tina used to make her flowers bloom .
When I garden, I use an iron steamer to bring my blooms to life. People think it’s crazy when I tell them I steam my blooms.
Tina Tomb
“I discovered that if you open your fabric flowers and steam them for two minutes they double in size.
“It’s made them look more real than normal flowers.
Tina then uses a sofa and fabric waterproofing spray which helps fabric repel water and stains.
“I steam the flowers and then Scotchguard them,” she said. “It beats weeding and watering.
“My method stops the rain flattening the flowers and keeps the colour intact.
“It makes your fabric flowers last outside for years.”
In another section of her garden Tina installed a pergola.
“I didn’t want to wait years for the wisteria to grow. I don’t have a green thumb.
“Instead, Tina bought metres of purple and white fake wisteria vines.
“I used my iron and water repellent spray method. It means they bloom all year around.
Tina uses water repellent spray on her fake potted plants to ensure their longevity.
I also used Fairy Liquid and warm water to spruce up the fake leaves every summer and bring out their green. It takes an hour compared to weeks of gardening if I had real plants
Tina Tomb
Tina also uses nail polish in her fake garden to give it extra sparkle.
“I have solar power lights in the front and back. Every few months I wash the solar panels with a little dishwashing liquid and water and dry them.
Then I break out my manicure kit and paint clear nail polish on the solar panel section.
“It makes the panels, even the tiny ones on individual light sticks, absorb more sun and shine longer into the night,
Tina changes out her faux garden flowers each season depending on what colour scheme she’d like her garden to reflect.
“Some seasons it’s pink, white, purple, others it’s red and yellow.
“I feel like a floral Picasso when I garden using my supply of fabric flowers.
Tina shared her garden transformation on social media and was soon inundated with people asking her to make floral decorations and flowers for their gardens.
Here's how Tina created the perfect faux garden:
“I was initially shocked by the response.
“I thought it was just a fad.
“It wasn’t and Tina has now quit her job as a recruitment consultant and runs Tina’s Bloom Boutique.
“My faux garden became my business.”
Now only does Tina help people makeover their garden using her ‘all-year-round faux flower technique’ but she does faux floral decorations for weddings, parties and birthdays.
“Demand is huge. People want a beautiful living space in the garden.
“They want a low maintenance but highly ‘Instagramable’ back yard all year round.
“Brides also want flowers to fit their colour schemes. Real ones often aren’t available.
“So many brides say my flowers look more real than grown ones.
“I know some people will tell me my garden isn’t the ‘real deal’. I don’t care,” she said.
“It’s my little bit of flower power heaven.”
