I know how you feel except I married a man with three kids two 8 years old and one 11 year old daughter from the moment we were married she was needy and all attention from her daddy was hers so much that her brothers were afraid to hold hands with their dad because she controlled him, had a emotional hold. My husband was married to me not his daughter. At the time I didn’t understand it was hard for her share her dad but she came between us and sometimes I wonder if that’s what happened with his first wife expect I don’t allow it to ruin our relationship. I thought she was telling the truth for along time. We started a relationship with my step daughter that I thought was honest but manipulated me in believing in her and she would lie about why she was late after school, she was going to her friends house then homework club and hanging out with a boy that I think started this mess or temptations sexual acts in order to be with boy and kiss boys all I know is because I told her couldn’t date until she 16 she disobeyed and did anyways. She was the one who didn’t want anything to do with her mentally, manipulative mother now she’s apparently been communicating with her for two and half years and has told people I abuse her and control her and cage her up. She tells people these things to get attention her mother played on me and her dad that she better and moving out into apartment and she lied she was still in metal home so her daughter has learned and since then taught her brothers steal and lie and now talk back, her brother have intellectual disabilities on top of that which puts more strain on me as step parent but what changed was when I had baby of my own my husband became a husband in since and he started a better commitment then just bending to his daughters will our baby in Since saved our marriage and my husband also had addictions that She got him started on and it changed once Elizabeth was born he became the man I married if he will. Savannah came between us and we got along but it was difficult road. Our love became stronger and My step daughter sought for attention else where by a guy she became involved with in sex texting and they since he has broken up with her twice and is trying again because I finally gave consent for her to date because she sneaking behind our backs and lying and I knew it was matter of time that she would be pregnant because she was desperate to be with him. He’s not a guy I like but I don’t like secrets and my step daughter also tells our bishop I fight with her and I do not. I used to slap her but I stopped doing that when she called the police over in hope her dad would divorce me and she would have his attention again yes I know one believes me because she’s that good at manipulating people in believing she does nothing but I since learned manipulaters know how to push your buttons to send you over edge. I was already being gaslighted by my step son and I don’t know why but I found since then I tested him and found he has a intellectual mild and a behavioral disorder and I have changed emotionally since he started messing with my mind it’s called gaslighting and now since then I had emotional breakdown and teens used that push my buttons. It’s exhausting, it got worse when I was pregnant because I was more emotional and I didn’t realize I was being gaslighted but my pregnancy changed me I was irritable and emotional and I was tired more from being sick and jaylan stealing and throwing tantrums and kicking me but know one believes me because I’m the parent it’s my fault they act this way. When I came into my marriage I was not only a step parent but I was raising kids who were emotionally abused by their mother and foster care influences and also had disabilities I knew not about our boys except one had epilepsy and the other a learning disability. It was a complete mess and I felt I was teaching them at age 3 and Savannah 5 because they never had rules, responsibility ever and making rules was horrifying to them. Jaylan was angel until third year in spring wood he went off some medication for epilepsy that I didn’t know would arise so many unexpected problems he ether had or developed because of this medication he was on for so long. Jaxson always had emotional problems from the start, things happened in foster care and also his childhood that I could tell made him crazy at times. He use to have tantrums everyday and I worried the d.s.f would take them away after their father fought so hard to keep them my step daughter I thought liked me did not because I made rules in the house. She never had rules even her dad cleaned the house when he was home and took care of the dogs and birds which now he hates animals because ex wanted them. His ex was so depressed and ocd and mentally ill he took care of his has much as he could but in since he was like a single father with three kids and his wife he had taken care of. So when I came into the picture and started changing things my step daughter didn’t want us together anymore and in her mind she believed her daddy can do better or that she liked that her daddy only raise them. If Jesse and I didn’t get married he would’ve lost full custody of his kids and it would’ve destroyed him. Jesse was abused emotionally by his ex and there was definitely manipulation going on ether his ex or his daughter. His boys started learning to lie and steal from their sister and it’s been difficult to break so now everyone my step daughter talks to believes I abuse her and control her and don’t give her privacy but she gets plenty of it and so my husband knows I don’t hurt them. He knows they manipulate me and him but we are their parents and I don’t care if they hate me someone needs to love them and teach them and hopefully later they will see. When I think she’s telling the truth I don’t believe her because she’s kept secrets I found out that make me love her but not trust her. p

I also agree with Gabby that your plants look good, at least from what I can see in photos. I can see couple of dry leaves in pic 1, which seems to me normal. Another leaf in same pic seems to be broken, with broken edge just dried up. If spraying with anything, it is best to do out of sunlight. Some ingredients may burn leaves in sunlight, even if not otherwise harmful to plant. Soil does look very 'dense', it could be too water retaining. If it contains too much peat, it may have become hydrophobic and it actually repels water. If to retaining, it may be staying too wet for too long, and roots may be suffering. Do as Gabby suggested - mix in lots of sifted perite. And do not worry about nutrients...succulents grow in very lean substartes in their habitat. Definitely do not use 'rich' soil thinking it may provide nutrients. If really concerned, it is much better to fertilize, lightly, with balanced fertilizer. I don't, and grow mine in gravely mix, made of grit, perlite and little turface. I have few small pots with bit of soil in the mix, but there is likely only about 10% of soil - added because I was running out of mix I usually use :) Whe repotting, get rid of old soil from the root ball. Trim off any damaged roots. The do not need to be drying if they have roots; if you have to do lots of root pruning, maybe an hour or two are enough to callus those cuts. If you need to wash off the old soil, letting plant air-dry for few hours should be enough (set it on something absorbent to help). If pruning off branches, the cuts should callus. Few hours or overnight is usually enough. But jade can live without water for a long time (weeks, even months) - they may shrivell, but still live. So do not worry much about how long. Cuttings, without roots, should be stuck into fast draining mix and do not water for a while. No roots - no water...they should start growing roots quite readily, and that is time to start watering.

@CeresMer Zone 7a NJ your Gaura looks beautiful!!! may it have a healthy long life in your garden. they dont like prolonged wet feet it seems. i had couple planted in spring 2018, bloomed beautifully for few weeks but that year also happened to be wettest year that i could remember in NJ. it rained pretty hard for 6 months or more i think. and i lost both. bottom line - even though its unlikely we will have a repeat of 2018 anytime soon, make sure was the plants are located in well drained soil. mine were planted in average soil and would probably have survived if not for the exceptional rains that year. @Sarena Altman (7a Middle TN) observing the beetles in my garden they definitely have favorites. once my Midas Touch roses stopped blooming they were not seen for few days. not even on rose foliage or on other plants. then my Westerland startded blooming again and within two days those were back. interestinly they did not touch my supposedly-julia child-but-more-like-at last rose, which is blooming barely a foot away from where they were enjoying chewing off the Westerland blooms. i started bringing the ready to open buds indoors since two days and they are gone again without touching the other rose, which also is fragrant though more like clover to my nose. again, no more new leaf damage, though i have damage on all 5 bushes from early summer (i read thatsa when the larvae started feeding on leaves). so, at leat in my garden it seems deflowering is helpful. but they seem to love @CeresMer Zone 7a NJ’s rose leaves as much as the roses, in which case it wont help much. Ceres, do you have fragrant leaves as well? i have one ragusa, ’sir Thomas Lipton’ with delightfully fragrant leaves. even a slight touch transfers the nice rose smell to my hand. this is why wondering. may be the leaves on your rose bush defusing specific essential oil these bugs prefer?

What an interesting layout! While I prefer J&J's to have separate private spaces, I'm sure it works for your girls, and I really like the shared study space! Very cool! Your girls are lucky :) Also white truffle has a bit of a dusty/lavender undertone to it, not peachy/coral. If you wanted to lean more orange in your pink you may want a different color...my point in showing you the white truffle was to compare how it looks on the chip (kind of awful IMO - I would never have chosen it if the designer hadn't recommended it) to what it actually looks like on the wall (really pretty, light dusty rose). But, of course, I think the color is beautiful so absolutely go for it if you like it!