With that, he looked back, and nodded at this dead plant, and then cast his eyes about him in walking out of the yard, as if he were considering what other pot would go best in its place.
– Charles Dickens
Great Expectations, Chapter 32. The “dead plant” is a metaphor for the Colonel in Newgate Prison, who is to be executed. An extended metaphor in this chapter sees Wemmick as a gardener walking through Newgate and the prisoners his plants.