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Oct 09, 2023

Stop Murdering Houseplants. Try Lego Flowers Instead.

We’ve added a new pick, the Lego Wildflower Bouquet 10313. I feel awful whenever

We’ve added a new pick, the Lego Wildflower Bouquet 10313.

I feel awful whenever I inadvertently kill a houseplant. But most fake plants, even decent ones, remind me of dreary dentist waiting rooms. Thankfully, the Lego Botanical Collection solves my problem.

Lego's line of brick-built flora aimed at adults has a pleasing balance of realism and visible studs. It isn't out to fool anyone. Here are faux plants that proudly say, "No, I’m not real, but you’re gonna love me—or at least appreciate that someone dreamed me up."

The Botanical Collection started out as a hobby for Lego designers, who were building plants and flowers only to keep around the office. Designer Nicolas Vás created a bonsai tree to decorate the project area for folks working on the Lego Ninjago series, and friends began asking if he’d build them one for their desks. He’d always hoped one of his horticultural creations might move into production, and when the company decided to create a portfolio of designs specifically for grown-ups, his tree idea finally found a home, along with a bouquet of flowers created by designers Anderson Grubb and Astrid Sundorf Christensen.

Over the past few years the collection has grown to include eight different sets of cheery blossoms and potted plants, and I’ve bought every one. I’ve long used building Lego as a way to relax, relishing the detailed path from chaos to finished product, and my hobby intensified after researching and writing a story about other adult fans of Lego (AFOLs). I currently have 91 large Lego sets in my home—though these numbers are puny compared with many dedicated collectors—some assembled, but most are packed away in various closets to rebuild another day. I have approximately 50 more in storage.

I appreciate how the Lego botanicals make for a much more age-appropriate display on my mantel than, say, the massive Star Wars Mos Eisley Cantina, which I own but don't subject guests to. And it's not like my house is brimming with shiny plastic plants now—I keep only one or two out at any given time—but I have strong opinions on all. If you’re in any way Botanical Collection–curious, read on.

Commemorate seasonal changes with two types of foliage (green leaves and cherry blossoms are included with the kit), or get creative using quirky add-ons from Lego's Pick a Brick page.

The Bonsai Tree was my first Botanical Collection build, so it holds a special place in my heart. The set was notoriously hard to find at the height of the pandemic, and instead of shelling out twice its value on the secondhand market, I practiced the patience of real bonsai cultivators and waited out supply issues until a restock.

The tree comes with adjustable green leaves and a second set of pink and white cherry blossoms, partially made by ingeniously repurposed Lego Frogs. I found the trunk to be a bit unsteady upon my first build—it came apart several times as I worked on the leaves—but I accepted the breaks and rebuilding as part of the process. Again, patience.

Build tip: I love the tree's endless customization options, like the weeping willow version pictured above that I made with Lego's Plant Vine Seaweed and Plant Flower Stems. You can order all sorts of additional pieces using Lego's Pick a Brick page, or you can browse its wall of loose pieces in-store. I’ve got my eye on the drippy pink and purple crystal rods featured in the Avatar Toruk Makto & Tree of Souls set to swap in during Mardi Gras.

A bold bouquet with 15 individual stems to build and style in your own vase.

The only thing worse than killing a plant? The melancholia that comes with tossing out a withered bunch of grocery store flowers that probably never knew the pleasures of pollination. I beat that hyper-specific case of the sads with the Lego Flower Bouquet, a 15-stem collection that will never wilt.

Made up of three pale pink roses, two snapdragons, one lavender stalk, one aster (I believe the tower blue variety), two small bunches of daisies, a California poppy, and five individual pieces of general greenery—phew—the bouquet is actually a relatively simple build for something that looks so intricate once it's complete. The only flower I had a little trouble with was stacking a few of the lavender's towering yet tiny blossoms.

Like the Bonsai Tree, this set also features repurposed Lego animalia—the piece that looks like a rose leaf here also serves as a pterodactyl wing in different sets. The leaf/wing, along with many other foliage pieces in the Botanical Collection, is made from a sugarcane-based material, part of the company's initiative to find sustainable materials for all core Lego elements by 2030.

Build tip: I keep my bouquet in a squat, double-handle jug, and the thin, single-piece stems that hold the greenery now have a permanent curve to them due to weight on the tips. I don't mind the look, but if you want to avoid this, use a slender vase to hold everything upright. You won't run into the same issue with the flower stalks, because they’re stronger and built piece-by-piece, so you can adjust the size to fit your vessel of choice.

An arrangement more akin to flowers gathered during a countryside stroll.

Released two years after the first Lego bouquet, the Lego Wildflower Bouquet 10313 looks a bit scrappier than its predecessor, but that's not a bad thing. Loaded with more tiny detailed florets than bulbous blooms, the simple, unpretentious flowers in this arrangement give it a gathered-in-a-country meadow appearance. It's untamed yet graceful, and during the build I found myself whistling the theme to Little House on the Prairie.

The 10313 bouquet comes with two more flowers than the 10280 (17 instead of 15) but ends up appearing a bit smaller once it's completed, since most of its pieces are long and slender, like the dainty bursts of Queen Anne's Lace, tall cornflowers and tricky little lavender stalks. All of the colors purposely complement flowers in the 10280 bouquet so you can mix the two in any number of ways and always end up with a lovely display.

For dedicated AFOLS, spotting repurposed Lego bricks from older sets becomes a fun game during the build (and if you can't spot them on your own, the instruction manual lists the history of many). A few of my favorites include vertical pirate hats for the lupins, traditionally utilitarian buckets for the daisy receptacles, and blank minifig heads in periwinkle and lavender.

Build tip: The lavender floral design is a bit different than the lavender stalks in the 10280 bouquet, which, as mentioned, I found a bit tricky to work with. I had a little trouble with this new version as well until I discovered that attaching the petals from the bottom of the base and building up (instead of starting from the top of its base pillar) made it much easier to swivel the small flowers into their slightly overlapping formation.

At more than 18-inches high with leaves that branch out wide, this plant takes up space, but it can also look cheekily right at home among your real plants.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $135.

When Lego's Bird of Paradise first came out, I wasn't that into the look; I thought it seemed like a whole lot of green for such tiny pops of color via the flowers. But after seeing rave reviews on YouTube I gave in and bought one, and I’m glad I did. This display gets the most compliments from guests, and the flowers up top don't seem nearly as tiny in person. The build isn't fussy and the enormous leaves that initially turned me off provide a true wow factor. It's also, for lack of a better term, the least Lego-y out of the Botanical Collection. While all the other pieces elicit responses like "Oh cool, it's Lego," this one usually gets, "Woah, is that Lego?"

Build tip: Because the build is relatively simple, I’ve got more of a display idea: Positioning a light near the 18-inch-tall Bird of Paradise causes the big leaves to cast even bigger shadows, adding to its enormous appearance.

This realistic orchid (it's even got those rogue roots) adds a thrill to your bookshelf or desk—and it actually keeps its petals.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $40.

There are around 28,000 species of orchids, but only one type could survive in my home: the Lego Orchid. This design doesn't hold back on the gorgeous, highly detailed nature of these opulent blossoms. Twisty vines burst with pink and white flowers, and the pink frog pieces used on the bonsai tree cherry blossoms get repurposed yet again, this time for each flower's center column. The dedication to realism extends down to a couple of aerial roots branching out of the pot.

Build tip: I found the final page of the instructions a little confusing until I realized the illustrated arrows were directions to just toss the various leftover pieces in the pot to replicate loose mulch, not attach the bricks to anything.

Display these little boxes attached together or solo and spread out.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $40.

The mini succulent garden consists of nine individual plants: an orange monroe, an aloe vera, a hens and chicks, a ball cactus, a burro's tail, an afterglow, a moon cactus, a red echeveria variety, and one general variety. Each sits in its own square planter; you can secure them together in a tidy geometric bundle or separate them into singles to place in different spots. One of the plants even lifts up to reveal a storage space for the tiny red pegs that secure the boxes.

Build tip: Okay, this one is less a tip for us builders and more for any Lego execs out there reading. You should consider selling these individually in blind boxes! Folks could even buy them in bulk as wedding favors, because giving wedding guests a live succulent to take home just forces responsibility onto folks. (Guilty, and I think about it a lot.)

A darling duo of roses with adjustable stems and a smattering of little thorns.

May be out of stock

These three cheery tulips are only about $10—the cheapest and most childlike of the bunch.

At around 10 inches tall, they’re not quite life size, but they still pack a sunny punch.

These packs of two or three individual flowers are a fraction of the cost of the other kits mentioned here and provide an easy entry point into the world of Lego botanicals. So far you can get roses, tulips, and sunflowers. All are easy to assemble with little time commitment, and they’re unobtrusive enough to tuck into a spot of your home without overpowering an overall aesthetic. The tulips, with their pastel colors and angular petals, feel the most childlike, but the roses and sunflowers contain more satisfying structural details like thorns and curvy petals.

Build tip: DIY your own Lego bouquet by gathering all of these together in a vase. And if you’re a big Lego fan, the roses make a cute gift early on in a new relationship. It's romantic and, based on their reaction, a good way to gauge whether you’re right for each other.

We’ll update this guide soon with our thoughts on the Lego Dried Flower Centerpiece 10314 and Lego Daffodils 40646.

This article was edited by Alexander Aciman, Catherine Kast and Annemarie Conte.

Joshua Lyon

Lead Editor

Joshua Lyon is the supervising editor of emergency-preparation and home-improvement topics at Wirecutter. He has written and edited for numerous outlets, including Country Living, Modern Farmer, The New York Times, V and VMAN, Marie Claire, Jane, and Food Network Magazine. He's also a Lambda Literary Award–nominated author and ghostwriter. Learn more at jklyon.com.

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