Driftwood and plants:

I would probably go with driftwood before fake stuff to attach plants to. With that said if you don't have a LFS that has decent stuff at reasonable prices you can also take a roadtrip to a body of water and see what you can find there. You may want to check the local regulations first if you try this. Another option is ebay.

EDIT:

Forgot to say. On a recent trip to a LFS I found a piece of driftwood on the bottom of a bulk bin. Triangular in shape about 11 inches to a side and nearly 5 inches at its thickest. Not sure what kind of wood it is, but paid the $13 and took it home anyway. First thing I checked was if it floated or sank. It sank and looks good in my aquarium.

I just went out on the boat. If you would of said something I could of gotten you some. If you can’t find the real stuff you want and see some good fake stuff get it. If you get the fake stuff less to think about with the brown water and the fungus it can leach when it’s new.

I want to get some real stuff, from a lake or whatever, but all that I have is the missisiipii river and there is nothing good that I can ever find that is close enough for me to reach

Depends on the plant. People have told me that they have successfully attached Java Fern and Java Moss to roughed up siphon tubes. They will pretty much attach themselves to most porous surfaces.
I've not tried that myself however.

Unless you have good knowledge of your woods, I would caution about putting just any wood in your tank. Some are toxic, especially if not seasoned, and some just plain decay in a short period of time and foul the water.
Wood is not that expensive in fish stores so I personally would go that route(no pun intended). Check out African Root if you can find it. Neat stuff and sinks like a stone.
Boil any wood before using to sanitize and to remove as much tannins as possible.

Len

I have had Java fern attach so strongly to the glass sides of an aquarium that I had to use a razor blade to scrape them off, so they should attach to anything solid.

I've read that some artificial "driftwood" will lose its color after a relatively short time under water, so care should be taken to chose the right kind.

There are a number of articles available in cleaning and diinfecting collected driftwood. Given the time and effort required, one might be better off buying wood that has been already cured.

Bill