I'd chop 'em all off just above the crown and keep the soil damp, but not wet. WHILE you repot, it's important to keep the roots constantly wet. That means you need to be dipping them in a tub of water at least every minute, or removing the old soil with water pressure. The all-important fine roots dry out and die quickly unless you stay on top of keeping them wet. AFTER the repot, it's important that you keep the soil moist where it's occupied by the roots, That might mean watering every day until the roots start to colonize the deeper part of the pot. Other than that, you'll need to get a feel for how many fine roots you must leave to support the water needs of the top of the plant. I regularly remove up to 90% of a plant's roots during a repot and I almost never ever lose a plant unless it blows out or an animal helps it out of the pot. Al

Seeing your grill and firepit gives a better idea of what you're trying to accomplish. I think extending the patio with aggregate material will work out fine for you. Calling it "pebbles"... which sounds "clean" and of uniform size has me thinking you're envisioning the wrong kind of material to build it of. I'm including a link below that shows some samples of the types of material that would work well. Notice that each is made of little chips, smaller chips, angular sand and dust. It's the combination of sizes that allow it to pack down tightly, as each little particle settles (fits) in closely to the other particles. (This is not possible with "clean," uniform size material.) Even though an individual particle of aggregate is angular, the top surface of the whole compacted area, because of the way each particle fits together (and that none is particularly large) is flat and smooth. When "weed barrier" is placed above the compacted soil (or subgrade) before placing aggregate material, it's function is not as a weed barrier, but as a soil separator and stabilizer... which is the good way to use this material. ("Weed barrier" fabric that is made of rubber-like material or is stretchy will not work for this.) Imagine a stone on top a wet, saturated ground. It would be pretty easy to put some weight on that stone and push it down into the mud. But if there was a piece of tough, non-sretchy fabric between the ground and the stone... providing that the fabric didn't "give," it would be about impossible to push the stone into the soil. What "holds" the fabric and prevents it from "giving" is that you are putting down AN ENTIRE COMPACTED LAYER of heavy material on top of it. Then, pressure applied to one small spot of the aggregate "paved" area will be resistant to deforming. Given that the area you are constructing is quite small and the fact that it's for light duty, would incline me to think that stabilizer fabric is optional, not critical. (It would be pretty easy to top dress any depressions that formed over the life of area.) The most important considerations are the aggregate you choose and it's thickness (min. 3",) the edge restraint and compaction of the layers. Manual compaction would work OK for this small project. Crushed brick (as long as it contains "fines") is another material that would work for this project... Here is a link that might be useful: Path and trail aggregate materials

In containers, the most important thing about the potting medium you use is that it provides plenty of AIR spaces. You want your mix to be very coarse, full of large particles. Then, you can add the fertilizer product of your choice. The more porous the potting medium, the more vigorous your root system will be; the happier the root system, the more productive (healthier) the top of your plant will be! It's as simple as that and quite remarkable when you see it in action. My potting mix is a combination of a bit of peat moss, plenty of gently composted bark fines, lots and lots of perlite, and a product called Turface. I also may add granite grit for good measure. I avoid anything that might clog up the pore spaces, such as compost, manures, garden soil, etc. Depending upon what I am growing (annuals, houseplants, bonsai, etc.) I'll add a slow release micro-nutrient product, as well as occasional doses of a balanced fertilizer. These can be organic or otherwise...the plant doesn't much care which. Nitrogen is nitrogen to the plant. ;-) I have good results with fish emulsion, but also use an ordinary soluble (mix with water and apply) fertilizer. This makes a planting mix that is built to last quite a while. All commercial potting 'soils' collapse after a few months, making them very inferior for container re-use, but suitable to turn out into the garden. My mix can last for a very long time, longer than I need it to. I do use a bag or two of a potting mix made for commercial growers that has a very large percentage of bark fines in it; more bark than peat. I add lots of perlite to that and am happy to use it for my annual plantings. Peat moss mixed with 50% perlite is what I use for my seedling germination. If you are really interested in container growing, you might look into the Container Forum, right here in the Garden Web. There's lots of great information over there and some pretty interesting threads.

Hello Deepwoods, I need help identifying what I believe is haircap moss. It looks like that, but it feels much more prickly than any other moss types I have. I found a bonanza of byrum, silver and green, in an old parking lot about to be destroyed. I can take the moss before they grind it up with asphalt and concrete. You know more than I do about identification. I'd hate to be bringing in something that is invasive. Can you help? It looks exactly like the images of haircap seen on every moss on the internet and books, but feels stiffer. Anyone else, feel free to jump in and help. Thanks, Milkweed