A pot is a good idea and blue always looks nice. Match the sky?!

Where are you located?

tj

Could also be a grouping of a couple of pots and with some blue fescue, blue agave and succulents.

I'm in San Diego:)

@tracefloyd love all those! (Blue fescue, agave, and succulents) could all 3 go in the pot(s)?

Methinks the current plant may have cooked to death. So unless you have an industrial strength watering system, putting something in a pot is just going to aggravate the problem.

Pots themselves might be a decent idea. It's hard to kill them off.

What is the dying plant? Maybe it was just a poor choice for the conditions and something else would do fine in the same position.

Plants in pots are harder to keep alive in hot, dry conditions if thats what contributed to the demise of the present plant. There are tough blue plants that would love your conditions like Santa Rita prickly pear and Yucca Rostrata.

I forget the name but it looked like this when it was alive

I can’t make a plant recommendation (because I live in Missouri z6) but I totally agree that a potted plant is not the way to go in San Diego (planting zone 10-11). Well, maybe if it’s in the shade.

That looks like Cuphaea ignea. Should have been ok in that spot. Was it over watered perhaps?

The tall accent pot in the inspo does not have any plants in it. It would work in groupings with pots in it's partial shade could hold plants and on the ground. Hot sun can scorch plants, even cacti and succulents need watering esp. the extra hot temps and don't water when its hot. Make watering moats around the plants on the slope, any slow growing plant takes a year to mature.

Maybe plant a desert acacia for partial shade.

Echeviera is a desert succulent, many varieties.. There must be more desert plants but I'm not familiar. Go to the local nursery.

Desert blubells

blue column cacti

Stack some loose adobe bricks level on the slope to hold pots or make a curve as if a retaining wall on the slope and you could add some shade if 5 or 6 bricks high in places.

How are your plants watered in that area? Drip irrigation? If so, have you checked to see if the emitter is working? To me, a plant in a pot is a focal point to be placed in a key area like an entryway or corner of a patio, or as the centerpiece in a planting bed. To place one in the area you are thinking of seems like a very random placement. Also, you would need to water the container as often as two or three times per day in the heat of the summer (depending on what you put in it). Plants in containers dry out very quickly in hot areas. I have one drip irrigation zone for all my containers and mid-summer I program it to run three times a day. Are you going to be able to maintain that schedule of hand watering, or to put the container on a separate drip irrigation zone? My recommendation would be to put a replacement plant in the ground in that location that has similar watering needs as the others in the area, and put two emitters on it if using drip irrigation. For example, instead of using one two-gallon emitter, use two one-gallon emitters - one on each side. That way if one clogs, the plant will still have a chance of surviving. The planters shown above are lovely but consider using them in another location that makes more sense as a focal point. All the best in your gardening journey :)