Succulent garden in a wooden bowl

You might notice by other YouTube videos, book covers and Pinterest pages that women really dig these succulent gardens in containers and they do all kinds of trite artsy-fartsy clever distinctly feminine things with them. For example setting tiny succulents into the bottom of stick wreaths, or similarly into the bottom of Amerind dream catchers. How dreamy.

Into a baby's crib, onto a rocking chair, inside work boots, spilled out of broken pots, cornucopias, small pots glued together, strawberry pots, old clay stoves, refashioned wooden pallets and such.

While others follow the designs of flower arrangements.

The very best ones, in my opinion, follow the designs of landscaping. So that the succulents are chosen to imitate tall trees and shorter bushes, rock piles, pathways and water. Such that your mind can go into them and wander around.

Bonsai is like this. Takashi Amano's aquarium plant designs are definitely like this. They are miniature scenes of nature imitating full size and above ground scenes and gardens.

The plants are chosen for contrast between shapes, textures and colors. Tall thing next to short thing, spiky thing next to bushy thing, light thing next to dark thing, thick next to thin, clunky next to bubbly, and so on. As much contrast as possible with the least amount of specimens, while considering growth potential and propagation, so that one or two species do not overtake the whole thing.

One time I stopped into a club at happy hour .... 

... did I tell you this already? 

Stop me if you heard this.

And the club was celebrating its anniversary. I was standing at a tall round table with a tiny plant arrangement in the center. Something inexpensive, that you could pick up for like twenty bucks. Something someone bought for the occasion.  

But it was cute as hell.

Whoever put it together either knew exactly what they were doing or else had a natural knack.

Another man at the same table on the other side hadn't said anything. 

To break the ice, I said, "This planter is interesting. Notice the contrasts so carefully considered: light green thick leaves set next to dark green pine needles, the tallest pole-like branch set like a tree right next to lily pad looking thing, fuzzy frilly leaf nonsense like a cloud next to rock-like plant. It is a miniature study in contrasts, and all these sets of contrasts themselves contrasting and presented in classical triangular floral composition. Plants as flower arrangement. Some of this could live, and some of this will die right off.

The man looked up at me like I am insane. Confused. At length he said, "I didn't know that plants can be talked about like this." 

Well, they can!

People think about these things. 

They don't just go to Home Depot and buy all the crap succulents that they have that day. They don't just go and buy a bunch of chickens and hens because they saw them before and they know that they'll live and they'll propagate. They don't just try to create something cute and temporary. They replicate a landscape that you can actually traverse in your mind.