By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Larry Grammer, a designer at the California Cactus Center nursery in Pasadena, wins numerous awards at cactus and succulent shows for his staged pots.  San Diego garden writer Debra Lee Baldwin passes along many of Grammer's tips in her new book, Succulent Container Gardens. 

Start with container that suits the plant's proportions and overall shape.  Place the plant in the container off-center and rotated forward at a slight angle to face the viewer.  That allows the viewer to admire the plant's beauty and symmetry, says Baldwin, without standing directly over it.  It also tends to look natural, she says, because that is the way plants are often seen in their natural habitat.

Tilting the plant forward, though, exposes the root ball in the back and dips the leaves into the soil in front.  Grammer solves both issues by tucking in rocks.  The rocks hold the plant in place and become part of the composition.

The finishing touch is selecting a top dressing that compliments both plant and pot in texture and color.  (The California Cactus Center, incidentally, has a huge assortment of top dressing.)  Here are two examples, showing how it all comes together.  Both were designed by Grammer and photographed by Baldwin.