There are several perspectives re whether or not it makes a difference when you repot a plant. Some people think you should be able to repot whenever you feel like it, with impunity, others feel that working with the the plant's natural rhythms so as to take advantage of the plant's strengths and avoid unnecessary stress by performing heavy work (repotting, root pruning, heavy pruning) not when the plant is in the weaker portion of the growth cycle, but when it's more robust. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't much care what we think is fair, choosing instead to force the plant to pay a penalty in terms of longer recovery periods and higher susceptibility to insects and diseases during that longer recovery when appropriate attention isn't paid to timing. Spring (as in early spring) isn't a good time to repot your PT or most other succulents and houseplants. In most cases, plants are at their weakest in early spring, which is more than enough reason to avoid repotting until they've stored some energy reserves and longer/brighter days ensure maximum food-making ability. Father's Day is easy to remember, or the summer solstice. Both are good target days around which to plan heavy work like hard pruning and repotting, with its root work. I regularly run into folks who are very quick to tell you how much difference 'when you repot' DOESN'T make; but their reasoning tends to center on the idea that because their plants didn't die after they repotted over Christmas vacation, there is no reason not to take advantage of that time frame (or something similar). That's faulty reasoning. Strong people in good general health recover much faster from surgeries than weak people whose health is questionable. To think that plants are different in that regard isn't logical. So, in the end, I can say with a great deal of confidence that when you choose to repot DOES matter. It may not determine life or death, but it's hard to envision any justification for levying unnecessary stress on a living thing of value unless it was required to ensure it's continued viability. Learning to work with your plants natural rhythms not only benefits the plant, it also helps the grower feel more in tune with the needs of the plant. We all have that nurturing bone, and one of our greatest rewards comes from knowing we're being good nurturers. Learning about timing is a step toward increased rewards. Al

first, thanx to the advice! second, here is an update on my poor ponytail's woahs.. so I tried with a screw driver: I don't know what these rocks are stuck on with, but let me tell you it is STRONG! I succeeded in getting some off, but still not enough to see the soil. I then tried to remove a particularly large clump of them, and succeeded only in slicing my finger, nicking the poor plant a little (just a tiny scratch), and bending the tip of my small screwdriver. These rock gluers meant business! I will try again later with a larger/sturdier screwdriver... wish me luck! -Willow

Sadly your photos are dinky and when I click on them I just get an error message. Agree that underwatering is far more likely (never managed once to overwater one of these... even in sloggy cool soil).

Thanks a lot for the compliment Bananafan! I appreciate it! I definitely try to make the best of my climate. Luckily there is a lot of moisture year round by me so that does give me the opportunity to grow a lot of vegetation. Every year I get more and more species of plants, it's hard to keep up with them all after a while, but so far I've managed pretty well. Not sure what purple sedum you are referring to (is it the purple heat vine?), but that, the arborvitae and the passion vine are all cold hardy here so they are one of the easier plants for me to grow! Arborvitaes are a little bit overused here so I'd rather have something else in my yard other than them, but they look nice and are expensive (and just as expensive to dig up and replace) so I'll be probably be keeping them for many more years! The passion vine is probably my favorite bloom. Not only is it cold tolerant, but it's a fast grower too. I got it as a small plant for 2 dollars at a local nursery in July 2010. Now they cover a huge portion of my pool fence and there are seedlings popping up around my yard (they dont seem too invasive though). I know that the Pacific Northwest has some of the best gardening in the country and it is definitely cool year round so I would agree that cool climates are actually great for a lot of flowering plants! It gets pretty hot by me in the summer so that does limit the number of flowers I can grow a little bit.