Stem cuttings are when you cut off an entire stem, as opposed to just a single leaf. It's a good way of dealing with older plants that become untidy. Leave it completely dry for about 24 hrs to callus over, which reduces the chance of rot, then simply push the stem into the compost. I don't water this for about a week, as the rooting process will start without it. The advantage is you have a much larger plant to start with, don't have a shrivelling leaf to contend with and so don't have to wait so long for it to look good. The method is good for most stem-forming succulents. Good luck. - Ian.

Dear Cindy Abs, Thank you very much for your inquiry. You can add a small amount of mulch back to the area, but be very careful how much. Growing grass in the shade is very very hard. Is this area suitable to just be a ground cover area? It sounds like the tree has matured to a point where the shade dominates the area. If the ground cover is not an option or not desired, I would like to know more about your current lawn care practices before I make further suggestions. I am assuming you live in Savannah, GA and have St. Augustinegrass. Let me know. Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more. Respectfully Trey Rogers, The Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor, YardDoctor.com

Hey folks, just writing to give an update. I'm still searching for a home, the whole process has me feeling down. It's so hard to find a home that's just affordable for me, in a good location that I want to live at in this town. I don't really want to spend more than the upper price range I set for myself. I know what I want in a house, but the choices are so limited. Finally after 1 month of waiting with no new houses being listed that I want to see during that time, I just saw a home listed 2 days ago. It looks like really nice house base on pictures, I still have to see it in person. but i think this is the one and i'm gonna pull the trigger after I see it. and the location is just perfect. In fact, it's a better home and a comparable location to the house on my very first post. Price is about the same too. Showing starts this weekend starting Saturday, but I'm working friday and all weekend, 12 hour shifts, so there's no way I can go see the house coz i get home at from work 8 pm. But my agent has already already contacted the seller's agent and made an appointment to see it on monday. I'm so anxious and nervous having to wait until monday to see it. I just have a gut feeling an offer will be made before I get the chance. houses this nice base on what i saw on zillow from Listed for sale date and listing remove, on average the difference is 1 week. I'm not sure how accurate that is from zillow, but i believe it. There was a house that was listed 2 months ago, and offers were made in just 2 days. It was a nice house, interior and backyard were in great condition, and the price was in the sweet spot for buyers in the area. It was a smaller house, but with a big backyard and pool. It was priced at $50,000 less than the upper limit of the price range that I'm looking at. I'm not surprised it sold fast.

I would plant it in the ground once it goes dormant OR pot it and keep the pot in the ground during the winter months (this lets you extract the pot should winter become very, very cold unexpectedly). If your winter appears to be unusually cold (long term forecasts are not out yet), bring it into the garage or cover the shrub with lots of mulch to protect it in the rare chance that temps go down enough to risk flower bud damage. Temps around -4C, more or less would start to bother me and I would create a mound around the little shrub. I have planted cuttings of mopheads, serratas and oakleaf hydrangeas of that size with no issues. My concern is usually that temps here tend to go up and down during winter and then they crash so, watch out for similar temperature "behavior". If that were to concern you a lot, feel free to keep it potted in the garage all winter instead (during winter). I noticed some -4C temps (or lower) last winter in your area. December was the coldest month in winter with frequent low temps around -3C thru -6C.