Chive Topper silver metal small succulent dish with drainage saucer.
Chive Topper silver metal small succulent dish with drainage and saucer styled with plants.
Chive Topper fern brown metal small succulent dish with drainage and detachable saucer.
Chive Topper fern brown metal small succulent dish with drainage and saucer, styled with plants.
Chive Topper green gold metal small succulent dish with drainage and detachable saucer.
Chive Topper green gold metal small succulent dish with drainage saucer styled with plants.
Chive Topper mahogany and gold metal small succulent dish with detachable drainage saucer.
Chive Topper mahogany and gold metal small succulent dish with drainage saucer, styled with plants.
Chive Topper silver metal small succulent dish with drainage saucer.
Chive Topper silver metal small succulent dish with drainage and saucer styled with plants.
Chive Topper fern brown metal small succulent dish with drainage and detachable saucer.
Chive Topper fern brown metal small succulent dish with drainage and saucer, styled with plants.
Chive Topper green gold metal small succulent dish with drainage and detachable saucer.
Chive Topper green gold metal small succulent dish with drainage saucer styled with plants.
Chive Topper mahogany and gold metal small succulent dish with detachable drainage saucer.
Chive Topper mahogany and gold metal small succulent dish with drainage saucer, styled with plants.

Plant Pots with Drainage

Topper Metal Succulent Dish

with drainage hole and saucer

$27.00
Colors: Silver
Drainage hole
Saucer Included
30-day return policy

The Topper is a sleek, low-lying metal succulent dish with a drainage hole and a matching saucer, built specifically for starting succulent cuttings. It is wide enough to give several cuttings room to root without crowding, and low enough that nothing about the shape competes with what is actually growing.

The drainage hole keeps the cuttings from rotting in standing water, which is the single most common way a promising tray of succulents quietly fails. It is genuinely hard to mess this one up, which is rare for us to say about anything involving live plants. Spend a little time arranging the cuttings with some intention, and the result looks considerably more impressive than the effort it took, which is exactly the kind of math we like in a pot. The metal finish wipes clean and stands up to repeated repotting, because a cutting dish earns its keep by being used again and again.

Product detail
  • Color: Fern & Brown, Green & Gold, Mahogany & Gold, Silver
  • Material: Metal
  • Glaze finish: Metalic
  • Finish variation: Natural variation between pieces
  • Drainage: Included
  • Saucer: Matching saucer included
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes
  • Indoor / Outdoor: For indoor use and covered outdoor temperate weather use
  • Designed by: Chive Studio
  • Year Designed: 2019
Dimension
  • 5 inches diameter, 2.5 inches tall
Plants that love this pot
  • Succulents and cacti
  • Echeveria
  • Haworthia
  • Sedum
  • Sempervivum (hens and chicks)
  • Jade plant
  • Aloe
  • String of pearls

Starting Cuttings in the Topper

  1. Let fresh cuttings callus over for a day or two before they go in. A cut succulent pushed straight into damp soil tends to rot, which is the opposite of the plan.
  2. Add a shallow layer of well-draining cactus or succulent mix. Not garden soil. The Topper is low on purpose, so you will not need much.
  3. Arrange the cuttings with a little intention, pressing each stem in where it looks right. Leave small gaps so air can move between them.
  4. Set the dish on its matching saucer.
  5. Water lightly, only until it just runs out the drainage hole, then empty the saucer. Cuttings want barely any water while they root, and the hole keeps the rest from drowning them.

Potting Tips

  1. Repot in the evening.
  2. Wait 1–2 days after watering, then repot.
  3. Buy potting mix. Not backyard dirt.
  4. Move the top layer of soil from the old pot into the new one. It's a little ecosystem.
  5. Never go more than one inch bigger.
  6. Soil line sits an inch below the rim. Leca or small rocks at the bottom for drainage.

Which pot size for my plant? →

Full Repotting guide →
Pot Care instructions
  1. Dishwasher-safe. Can also be hand-washed with warm soapy water and a soft cloth.
  2. Glazed pots are dipped and kiln-fired — they are sealed, durable, and not looking for trouble. No special cleaning products required.
  3. For pots with saucers empty the saucer periodically. Standing water in the saucer defeats the purpose of having a drainage hole, which is a thing we feel strongly about.
  4. Not frost-safe. Designed for indoor use and covered outdoor temperate weather use. Freezing temperatures are not recommended.
Shipping & returns

Shipping

  • Free shipping: On qualifying US orders — threshold shown at checkout
  • Standard: 5–8 business days Express2–3 business days (at checkout)
  • International Ships: to 40 countries — rates at checkout
  • Packaging Ships: in outer box to protect gift box

View full shipping policy →

Returns

We accept returns within 30 days of delivery on unused items in original packaging. If your piece arrives damaged, contact us within 14 days with a photo and we will replace it at no charge.

View full return policy →
Wholesale Inquires

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Customers are saying

4.89 ★ (4304)
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Topper Metal Succulent Dish - Chive Ceramics Studio - Pots - Chive US

The Rare Pot Hard to Get Wrong

The Topper is the rare pot we will openly admit is hard to get wrong, which is not a thing we say lightly about anything that involves keeping live plants alive. It is a sleek, low metal dish built for one job: starting succulent cuttings, in numbers, without fuss.

The shape is doing quiet work. It is wide enough to give several cuttings room to root without elbowing each other out, and low enough that nothing about the dish competes with the little rosettes sitting in it. A taller pot would upstage the cuttings. The Topper refuses to, which is the whole point. It is a stage, not a costume.

What we like most is the math of it. Spend ten unhurried minutes arranging the cuttings with some intention, pressing each one in where it looks right, and the finished dish reads as far more deliberate than the effort it actually took. That is the kind of return we are always chasing and rarely get: a small, low, unfussy object that makes the person using it look like they know exactly what they are doing, whether or not that happens to be true. When the cuttings outgrow it, which they will, the Topper goes back to the windowsill and starts the next batch, which is the quiet, repeatable life a good propagation dish is supposed to have.

Potting a plant with Chive

  1. It's best to repot your plant in the evening. Trust us, we know.
  2. Repot 1–2 days after watering — keeps the same rhythm going and won't shock it.
  3. Potting soil is not the dirt from your backyard. Go buy good, nutrient-rich soil.
  4. The top layer of soil in your current pot should be the top layer in the new pot too. It's a little ecosystem your plant likes.
  5. Never go more than one inch bigger than your existing pot. "It'll grow into it" is not correct, and you will kill it.
  6. Keep the soil line about an inch below the top of the pot. Add some leca or small rocks to the bottom for better aeration.
Repotting plants with Chive | Chive Studio

The Ultimate Repotting Guide

For those who have killed a plant. Or several. Or, frankly, many.

Before you put a plant into your new pot, you have to get it out of the nursery pot — a process that ends badly more often than any gardening influencer will admit. We wrote a full guide: when to repot (early spring, and not when you're feeling impulsive in October), which soil to use, how to tell your plant is root-bound, and how to avoid the three mistakes that kill perfectly healthy plants within a week of a well-intentioned repotting.

It is the guide we wish someone had handed us twenty-five years ago. It is written by people who have personally committed most of the errors in it.

Read the guide we wish we had
Joe Metal Pot With Drainage Hole | 7, 8, 10 & 12 inches - Chive Ceramics Studio - Pots - Chive Ceramics Studio

The Rest of the Pot Range

The Topper is the cutting dish in a range that runs all the way up to large statement pots. The full plant pot collection is the place to see what else pairs with it.

Shop all plant pots

Pots with drainage by chive studio

Drainage Is the Whole Point

The Topper drains, which for a dish full of fragile cuttings is not a detail but the entire point. The rest of the drainage range follows the same rule, hole and saucer included.

Shop pots with drainage

Chive Shido seed packets with botanical illustrations on a peg rack, showing cherry blossom, tomato, and eggplant designs.

Start Something From Seed

A cutting dish like the Topper is all about new growth, and Shido Seeds are growth from the very start, vacuum-sealed and viable for years in packaging worth keeping.

Shop Shido Seeds

Denver Botanic Stocks the Cutting Dish Too

The Topper is designed by Chive Studio, and although it is metal rather than our usual ceramic, it is drawn and developed in-house like everything else we sell. Our work is carried by botanical garden shops across North America, including Denver Botanic Gardens and the Chicago Botanic Garden. The Topper exists for a narrow, practical job, starting succulent cuttings, but it was held to the same design standard as the showpieces, because the material changed and the level of care did not. We design everything we sell, keep it in independent stores and our own shops rather than big-box chains, and ship to more than forty countries. A humble metal cutting dish gets the same attention here as a porcelain statement piece, which is the entire reason a dish this simple is still worth buying from us rather than from a hardware aisle. A cutting dish should disappear behind the plants, and the Topper does, which is harder to design than it sounds.

About Our Story

Plant Tips from Chive Studio

Quick tips, straight answers, and the occasional reminder that overwatering kills more houseplants than neglect does.

How to Repot a Plant: Watch for the Linen

— Todd Newgren
How to repot a plant comes down to three signs, one rule, and one soil decision that most people get wrong. Chive Studio has been making drainage pots since 1999. The neighbor i...
Read more

Are Ceramic Pots Good for Plants?

— Todd Newgren
Ceramic pots for plants outperform plastic on drainage, weight, and longevity — when they have a drainage hole. Chive has spent 25 years getting that detail right, and the pots ...
Read more

Frequently asked questions

What is the Topper dish used for?

The Topper is a metal dish for indoor plants. It works well for succulents, cacti, and other plants that like to dry out and suits modern, boho, and minimalist rooms. As a metal dish, the Topper fits a shelf, sill, or desk and pairs cleanly with the rest of the Chive pot range. It comes in several colorways to match different rooms.

Is the Topper a plant pot with a drainage hole and saucer?

Yes, the Topper is a metal plant pot with a drainage hole and a matching saucer. The drainage hole lets excess water escape so roots are not left sitting in water, which is the most common cause of root rot indoors. Water until you see a little drain into the saucer, then empty it. For a metal pot with drainage, the Topper keeps watering simple.

What plants grow well in the Topper?

The Topper is a metal dish that holds a nursery plant of a similar width, so match the grower pot to the opening rather than the mature size of the plant. Good choices include succulents, cacti, and other plants that like to dry out. For an indoor plant pot, size up by about an inch when you repot so roots have room without swimming in soil.

Is the saucer included with the Topper pot?

Yes, the Topper ships with a matching metal saucer, so it arrives as a complete pot and saucer set. The saucer catches water that drains through and protects shelves and sills from rings and moisture. Both pieces are finished to match, which is why the Topper reads as one considered object rather than a pot with a random tray underneath.

Are metal plant pots good for indoor plants?

Yes, the Topper is a metal plant pot finished to resist moisture, so it holds up indoors without rusting through. Metal plant pots are light, durable, and hold their color, which makes the Topper easy to move and easy to live with. It has a drainage hole and saucer, so it waters like any good indoor pot while looking a little more architectural.

How do I care for plants in the Topper dish?

To water the Topper, add water until a little runs into the saucer, then tip out what collects so roots are not left standing in it. Because this metal pot has a drainage hole, you can water thoroughly and let the excess go, which encourages even root growth. Check the top inch of soil before watering again rather than watering on a fixed schedule.

Is the Topper a good metal pot for succulents?

The Topper is a good metal dish for succulents. It drains freely, so the roots get water and air in the right balance. For anyone searching for a metal pot for succulents, the Topper covers both looks and function. Match the nursery pot to the opening and the plant settles in without fuss.

Does the Topper work as a housewarming gift?

The Topper makes a practical gift for a plant lover because it is a finished metal dish that solves a real problem rather than adding clutter. It arrives as a pot and saucer set and suits most modern interiors. For a plant pot gift that gets used, the Topper is an easy choice, and it suits anyone building an indoor plant collection.
Shido Vegetable and Flower Seeds Vacuum sealed for peak freshness

The pot is sorted. Now what goes in it?

Shido seeds come vacuum-sealed, non-GMO, and packaged well enough that people keep the packets after the seeds are gone. Which is either a design success or a problem, depending on how you look at it.

Your new pot is waiting.

Explore Shido seeds