I bought this tea cup-shaped planter at a garden centre.   Theoretically, it was meant to be used outside.

But the coating soon started to flake.

I nearly threw it out once or twice, annoyed that I had paid money for something that didn’t last even one summer.

Instead, I took a closer look at it and decided I liked the cracked and peeling-away colour, the creeping up of the earth into the clay.  It is actually more beautiful now than when I first brought it home, thanks to nature’s artistic rendering.