This planter was made by Chris (goldfinch4). I submitted the picture in the succulent & cactus forum for tiny plants. It is such a beautiful pot I thought I'd add it here. I was surprised to see it earlier this morning as the popular photo, but the planter makes the picture. Doesn't Chris do beautiful work? It is one of my favorite items!

The plant is a Fockea crispa, a succulent that has a vining trait. It will be trained as a bonsai but I have not yet decided whether it will be kept tree-like or take on more of a topiary look (looping the vine into a halo?); it has a few years of growth before I decide.

Bob, the photo of your Fockea-with-possibilities in one of Chris' handsome planter reminded me to post again (I apologize to those who have seen these, but hopefully somebody new can like it) my succulent plantings in two of Chris's handmade pots!

Yes, I agree with you that Chris does beautiful work! It is a joyful challenge to try and put together a planting deserving of any of Chris' amazing pots!

Wonderful pots, and I'm glad you posted here! We love artistic photos!!!

Those are beautiful, Bev. I still need to get pics of the little bugs and friends she made. Finding a plant for such a pot is about as hard as gift shopping for my wife - that perfect thing to express the right sentiment. Usually the plant selects the planter rather than the other way around.

Thank you, Bob!
What I do when I plant into a container is lay out my inventory of available plants to go into the pot. It's only the ones that work well together as a team that ends up being in the pot. The rest of the plants go back into "the shed".

That's basically what I did last week, Bev. I had over a dozen succulents I wanted to repot to get them out of seedling soil and into well-draining mix. Matching plant and pot seems as much art as horticulture; I am generally hopeless picking the right combinations. I usually offset single plants rather than centering them, like an artist or photographer does with a subject. Outside of that, it is not in my genes. Thankfully I have evolved past thinking tin cans and cinder blocks are acceptable dining table centerpieces.

Offsetting a single plant is a great start to developing a style in your container planting. I love asymmetry too! And maybe your evolution of "acceptable" table centerpieces can eventually include your container plantings as centerpieces!