A few ideas: Mealybugs are covered with a dense white powder. The males can fly. The wooly aphid is covered with a cottony substance. The spittle bug surrounds itself with a spit-like....spittle. Here is a link that might be useful: http://HarvestToTable.com

Looks like deer, but just a guess.

Micro, not sure if you completely got Rosemarie's humor--you stick 'em in the sun and tell 'em to thrive if they know what's best for 'em. To sink/live or swim/end in tears. Something I myself can't bear to do, but then again, I usually don't care for stress colors. I've seen pics for both Gasteria that kind of fit the bill, Rosemarie, but more G. pillansii v. ernestii-ruschii that look fitting. So, I'm inclined to agree there. Thank you! And if it's A. pseudotabuliforme in my grasp, I'm one lucky girl.

I'm liking the idea of the horsetail reed grass in the third to last picture you provided or the grass in the last photo. 'Cascading hair' would look interesting too, so I'm toying with the idea of a double effect: adding another planter behind the fabric planter and filling with a trailer or two, such as sweet potato vines.