Ken, that is not a very large tree :-) Check the scale - it's growing in a bed of heather. The photo shows one about 3' tall at the most. FWIW, this is a dwarf conifer and only gets around 8' tall, maybe as much as 15' over a very long period of time. It is commonly sold in quite small starter sizes (quart size pots) for this exact purpose of container planting. And grown in a container it would take even longer (and with routine potting up) to ever achieve that projected mature size. It may be different in your neck of the woods but growing plants in containers - ALL kinds of plants - is a very common practice here. There are some who devote an entire business practice to container design.....and not just seasonal container design. Maybe it has to do with our rather urban setting and the fact that many folks don't have any land......or very much land.......in which to plant directly. Lots of condos, townhomes, zero lot line houses and even floating homes, all of which make inground gardening difficult, if not impossible. And contrary to what you might think - these plants thrive for many years under these conditions. I grow my entire collection of both conifers and Japanese maples in containers and have done so for years. The only consideration for long term container growth for any kind of hardy plant in my and cadence's location is the quality of the potting soil and attention to watering and routine fertilization. And the need for some rather infrequent root pruning. Expand your outlook and broaden your horizons :-) Not everyone gardens in acres of sandy Michigan prairie!!

I found this on artistic-gardens website: Balance & Contrast Plants should be sized to the pot & pots should be sized to the site. Small plants will be lost in a large pot, just as small pots will be lost on a large deck. Plants shouldnÂt be more than twice the height of the pot or 1 ½ times as wide Simple plants show off an ornate pot and flamboyant plants are showcased by simple pots. Have at least 1 tall plant, 1 filler and one trailing plant or simply one plant per pot. Color Suit your choice of colors to your site>>> You might also want to go to topiary forum, I think there is one on gardenweb.

Came through the overnight storms just fine, thank goodness. soxxxx - my fear isn't really the wind knocking over the pot, I can see the stone wall it's sitting losing a major load-bearing stone, pot tumbles into sunken garden, on the way down hits the bench first, then continues to smash to smithereens on the garden floor. :) Here are pics of three other urns I planted yesterday. This one DID meet with an unfortunate accident several years ago, but I loved it so much I couldn't toss it. It's terracotta. It comes apart in three or more pieces if you lift it the wrong way. I merely fit it back together like a jig saw puzzle and carefully plant and move it about. Now who's crazy? The next photos are urns I normally sit on the sunken garden floor, but decided to put them on the walls this year. They are also terracotta but have a wonderful aged appearance and when in the shady moist atmosphere of the sunken garden, develop a nice greenish color and sometimes moss! They'll lose that now by sitting in bright sun most of the day. I planted blue lobelia, peach verbena and vanilla million bells petunia. I don't have the best of luck with verbena, but the color was so pretty I couldn't resist.

Desert Willows grow like weeds here in the sandy soil of the Mojave Desert. Never planted them in high clay content dirt, but I would think you will need to amend the soil with a bit of sand and a lot of compost. Drainage is important and being on a slope will help. I would keep it moist for the first month or so and watch the leaf color. If they turn yellow, the soil is to wet.