Evolution of a planter

For the past two years, a really wide and squat terra cotta pot has lived in front of our house. The first year, it was filled with a giant fountain grass and looked pretty darn cool.  The second year, I planted a dwarf evergreen in it. Apparently, it was not happy in that pot, because it never made it past dwarf stage. It just stubbornly refused to grow, and my hopes of decorating it with lights for the holidays were squelched.  I was so frustrated with it, that I left it in there in the fall, and it soon got covered in snow and forgotten.

Needless to say, my pot full of dirt expanded and contracted in the winter weather and cracked wide open come spring. drat.

Remarkably, it cracked cleanly in half, and I saw potential in those pieces.

The top ring became the perfect collar for a lupine plant in my back garden.  It highlights the plant, and seems to have kept the bunnies from nibbling and the squirrels from digging. My lupine seems undeniably happier with it's new jewelry.

The shallow base piece of the planter lives on a metal stool in the back garden. It is the ideal depth for a mini garden full of succulents.  I filled it with evergreen stonecrop and hens and chicks.

I think I'm actually happier with the pieces than I was with the whole.