Tweaking great ideas

I confess that I have great ideas (in my head) every nano-second or so. OK -- so that's not quite true, but every once in awhile I come up with a notion that has potential. And so it was a couple of days ago. I have a beautiful firestick plant in front which used to reach to the sky and displayed delicate yellows and reds. Well, the wind storms we've had lately decided to bend the tallest so it was in danger of falling over. I did what I had to do and cut it off. The top will be planted elsewhere and to all you animal lovers out there, I make sure they are not easily accessible to dogs.

Before:  

 After:

Well, you can see the problem right off. Now there's a big hole in that section of the garden. Aha, says I. I will fill it by putting one large (ugly) pot at the bottom and add a decorative pot that came to me with no bottom, put that one on top and plant the top pot with pretty stuff and the bottom pot with normal succulents and it will fill the space, reduce weeds in that area, and be a nice subtle focal point (if you crossed my yard to take a closer look).

The bottom pot is HUGE and took a great deal of dirt to fill and the top pot was not much smaller -- do you already see the problem? -- and took endless trips back and forth to get the right mix of dirt and potting soil. Wow, I said to anyone who would listen. That's looking great. Now to add a sprig of this and that and oh...whoops, there isn't much room in the bottom pot to plant anything. And even though the roots could grow down and out just fine, there's not room for the actual succulents to look full when they try to grow in.

So while I like the rustic look, guess what I'm going to do. Why yes, pull all that dirt out, take off the top pot, why not, and place another, smaller pot on top, that conveniently enough, also has no bottom. Did I mention that most of my garden pots are scrounged from neighbors who are getting rid of them, or are being put out for bulk pick up? I take them in almost any condition and figure out how to make them work - well at least in theory. So long story short, this is what it looks like today, and won't look like in a couple of days.