Alberta is correct Alexa on the catt in bark. Jam the oldest pbulb/rhizome on the edge of the pot so the new growth has room to grow for a couple of years. After repotting a catt, I don't water for a week to let the wounds heal, then resume a regular schedule. You do not have to sterilize your cutting tools between each cut :>) Sterlize after you are finished with the plant. You still need to stabilize the plant in the pot. You don't want the plant wobbling when you move it. If you don't have a rhizome clip, use a couple of stakes (bamboo skewers work great) put one on each side of a pbulb and then use twist ties to tie the stakes together or the pbulb to the stake. Once the new roots grow, you can remove the stakes. And the most important thing to remember, these are tough plants that want to survive regardless of what we do to them. Brooke

I have a yellow hibisvus that is about 6' high. It came with the house. It was very full, but bloomed poorly. It was blown over and nearly uprooted by Wilma. Propped it up and it finally grew again. Early this spring I pruned heavily. I left the original height, but severery opened it up, pruned all old growth, dead branches and branches that crossed. I cut all the tips to promote branching. The poor thing looked pretty bare. It is now leafing out, growing new branches and blooming quite nicely. I did the same to the weeping pink hibiscul and it really helped rejuvenate it. Hibiscus is not afraid of the clippers LOL. Jo

Having grown up in tropical southeast Asia where I just had to stick a twig in the soil to propagate hibiscus plants I'd say whatever you've done, its going well. The leaves are looking healthy and shiny. The bark does not look like its wrinkled or peeling. I will tell you that these plants can survive long with good care.. Years and years. Its pretty hard to kill in fact. We'd wacked down shrubs and it will regrow from trunks. So don't worry. Do not let it sit in water as you may encourage root rot. Just keep the soil moist. If fast evaporation is a problem, take a clear perforated plastic bag and wrap the bottom, pot and all. Watch for pests and insects. keep it by the window. Filtered sunlight is always best for tropical plants but with hibiscus these can be brought outdoors in summer but expose it slowly so as not to cause a sunburn. These plants do need to adjust. They normally go indoors for winter. You know its healthy too when you scrape the bark and see a lively green colour. If the plant gets too rootbound then it would be time to do some rootpruning. For now however, take a smooth stick like a chop stick and poke holes between the roots so these can absorb oxygen and water. Add fresh soil into those holes if you need to. I'd say wait for a bit before fertilizing yet otherwise risk root burns. In a couple of weeks when you start seeing recovery, add weak liquid tropical fertilizer. a side note: I don't know where you are located but if you are in the north (my area) tropical plants tend to go into 'hibernation'. They don't exactly go dormant but they do look poorly. Its time to lessen the watering and absolutely no fertilizing. In spring when the light is longer, they begin to perk up and that's when to fertilize. In florida however, I would be a bit more careful. The laserlike sunlight there is so unlike the climate I came from in Asia which is far more humid (hence more sunray protection) In Florida plants do need to be carefully exposed before being fully exposed to sunlight.

By no means do I consider myself an expert of any sort but I have been learning from my mistakes over the past two years or so. So I apologize in advance if I’m mistaken. Your echeveria looks like it was sunburned. That’s how mine started to look around August and September this year and I ended moving everything under a porch because of how intense the sun was. So perhaps it was just stressed and is now growing due to the semi great weather we’ve been having? I’m also in zone 9b and find that these cool days (surprisingly we haven’t dipped into freezing temps at nights) are making most of my succulents very happy. I do throw a frost cloth on at night but only so that the most tender succulents are not exposed to the moisture in the morning. The echeverias I beheaded lost their outer leaves as well but I haven’t watered them to be honest. I felt their is sufficient moisture in the air right now