The pot that looks generous outside may give roots very little room.

What matters to a plant is depth and volume, not the impression its container makes on a windowsill. Wide and shallow reads as spacious and can leave a root system pressed against a floor it cannot get past. That mismatch between how something looks and what it provides is easy to sustain, because only one of the two is visible. Plenty of arrangements are generous in appearance and tight where it counts.

Check whether something you have set up is really the right shape for what it holds, at home or at work. The answer comes from inside it rather than from how it looks on the shelf.