First up, the grower selling this, Costa Farms, we've had NOTHING but great experience with. Actually, quite a few of the plants in our landscaping are from them, just purchased at our local home improvement store. This ponytail palm arrived quickly and in immaculate condition! It was VERY well packaged. Actually, we had to be careful in opening the package seeing as the brown paper was around it so tightly that we almost pulled the plant out of it's black pot. It's in a black pot with drainage holes that you then place in the white, ceramic planter (which does NOT have drainage holes). As you can see, we have ours out on our rear patio and we'll actually be planting it come spring. The only "gotcha" is that, at least for ours, it's getting close to needed repotted. If we weren't planning to put it in the ground I'd be changing it out to a larger planter ASAP to allow it plenty of room to keep growing.