The perfect plant pot

Pots seem to be a common theme in things I read at the moment and searching for that perfect pot can be almost as hard as searching for the perfect plant. Most of the time the only decisions I make over pots are: plastic or terracotta, and full or half depth. I tend to automatically put all my agaves in unglazed terracotta pots to ensure they dry out quickly, limiting the amount of pot hunting I have to do. One of my favourites at the moment is this lovely little starter pot.

I don't know what it is about this one that I love, it just seems to have the perfect proportions and has been ideal for one of my bonsai experiments on echeveria minima. It came with a cutting from a friend and was so much better than the little take out coffee cups I was using for my seedlings.

Not all pots fit in the tasteful category and novelty pots are everywhere.  So far I have managed to mainly avoid them but I do have two that go with my African 'garden tat'. This one is the hippo and currently has an flowering echeveria john catlin on its back.

Moving swiftly on, the thing about the perfect pot, is finding a pot that works for the plant and in the location.  How often do you see something that looks amazing only to know it wouldn't work for you.  Pots more than anything need to fit in with the garden.  I have shown these painted pots before, I loved them this garden in Morocco, but they would never work for me.

One other thing about pots is that they don't have to be filled to be part of the garden. The friend that gave me the little pot has a great used pots pile.  She has the most amazing garden full of different sections with hidden bits, I will have to do a post on it at some point soon.  Last time I was there I took some photos of the behinds the scenes areas and one of those was this pots pile:

She is very embarrassed about it, sorry Mel, but I think it's great. Apart from looking good, I imagine it is an ideal wildlife refuge. Most of the pots are broken and are stored here until they are given a new life in a mosaic style wall somewhere in their garden.

I doubt having all my plants in fancy pots would make them more acceptable to my OH, so for now I do not need to expand my search for pots. No doubt I will continue to keep an eye out whenever I visit a nursery as you never know when you will find that perfect pot.