Nice plant...

..."I raised the soil line with large stones in the bottom of the pot so that it does not stay too wet too long"...

Why don't you provide proper drainage - a drainage hole in container?

..."My goal was to try to mimic the environment that these plants come from, i.e. sub-Saharan Africa"... Wouldn't that include good drainage? Just wondering...

Being that this is a terra cotta pot, I thought it was understood that there is a large drainage hole in the bottom.

I raised the soil line to lower the overall volume of soil and allow it to dry out faster, given that the pot is much too deep for the plants I am adding. That being said, now that there are large stones in the bottom AND a large drainage hole, I feel that drainage is sufficient.

I've used rocks with a couple of my plant. I used them mainly to take up volume in pots that were a little large for the plants when I potted them, and, besides, I like the way they look :-)

Love the shape of the large rocks in your arrangement - where'd you get them?

sld

I also use rocks; but op said she added few on the bottom for better drainage. I didn't think they are needed for drainage, but JMO :)

Rina,
This bowl is 16” across. In my growing conditions, the media would stay wet far too long as I have to keep this inside—ants seem to love the gritty mix sigh and colonize it almost immediately.

jgchow,
They are dragonstone chunks I pulled from a large aquascaped fish tank I had, most aquarium stores carry it!

stupidlazydog,
Wow! That’s a gorgeous Pachypodium (?) and those flowers are amazing!

Thanks, Alyssa. The first one is brevicaule, and the second is horombense.

Rina, I agree that you don't need rocks on the bottom for drainage. Most of the rocks in the pots I pictured aren't just on top, but extend to the bottom of the pot so there is a smaller volume of potting mix in the pot. They do add a bit of weight, though :-)

sld

You are expert and have many fantastic plants. I prefer 1 plant per pot, or multiples of same - makes it easier to keep in proper conditions. Community pots could look great too. You say that adenium needs more frequent watering?

This pot is only 14", has only xGraptoveria 'Fred Ives' in it. There are some rocks there too, almost lost now among plants. I drilled additional drainage holes:

I think some beheading will be happening soon:

Haws are in this oval pot with additional drain holes drilled. It is 13" on top longest points, and 5" deep. There are 19 plants in there right now. These rocks go approx. 1/2 way deep, one is deeper. And yes, they add some weight!

Both (as all my succulents) spend summers outside. In very gritty mix (inorganic), drainage is excellent. No covering or shuffling indoors if it rains.

I find that Adeniums (not pachypodiums) need more water when they're actively growing than most of my other plants. I also tend to like one plant per pot, but I do like the idea of a desert scape. I have a really large but shallow in proportion to its height clay pot... hmmmm.... If only I could make room for it indoors over the winter :-)

I added the rocks on the bottom to reduce soil volume as well, this bowl/pot is quite deep and even the adenium’s roots didn’t reach near the bottom. I’m excited to add the other plants when they arrive this week, I’m hoping to arrange them in a way that will show the scale that I am going for—to make the adenium seem more like a “tree” as they are in the wild.

Rina, those are beautiful succulents! They look very well aged, I love the way they hang around the edges of the pot like that!

sld

made a mistake (corrected now), I meant Adenium...getting old, lol.

Alyssa

Thank you. They are really easy to grow, many in that bowl grew from leaves.

Pls. post photos when you have additional plants.

Quite nice though "terrarium" would be a misnomer. I'd refer to it as a "dish" (or bowl) garden. :-)