Special, Fun Pots

I've been spending a lot of time potting up plants the last couple of days. Making more potting mix, filling pots, removing big, dead plants from pots, moving plants around. Working with big pots gets so tiring, and they really take a lot of potting mix! Sometimes it's nice to just work with some little pots, especially when they're unusual.

This happy, creepy onion-head fellow wouldn't be smiling if he could see the back of his head...

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I haven't gotten around to refreshing his plants yet this year:

As nice as that silky hair looks, it will look even nicer in a few minutes. The main problem with this pot is that it's got a very small area to hold soil.

Therefore the plant that goes here has to be tough, be able to withstand drying out once in a while, and just has to look right too. Luckily I know just the plant:

This sedge called 'Beatlemania'. It grows pretty long (maybe 10") when in partial shade in the ground, but in a constricted space it will stay much shorter. It will still be nice and curly though.

The trick is to make sure that you pack in as much potting mix as possible -- jam it in every crack in there. This container will dry out pretty fast, and if there are any air gaps between the plant and the pot sides it will dry out even faster.

All packed in, and this guy really has something to smile about now!

As fun as that little guy is, do you know what makes him even more fun? A trusty companion!

Ok, so it's not really a typical "companion" animal, unless you're a pirate or 70's era tough-guy detective, but like happy onion-head it also looks great with the right type of plant.

This year I'm trying 'Blue Spruce' sedum. Last year I tried another type of sedum and it worked really well, but I don't like to do everything the same every year in the garden, so I'm switching plant types in the bird this year (slightly).

Again this is a relatively small soil holding area, so I've chosen a plant that can take some abuse and doesn't mind drying out once in a while.

Both pots will look a lot better once the plants fill out a bit, and they'll be up on the deck where I can enjoy them every day. I really prefer "normal" pots, but a few oddballs like these can really make a small part of your garden more interesting and fun.