cold weather is evil - I think you might be mistaking it for a Ficus Benjamina - it is a Ficus Nitida of which there are 1000's of outdoor ones in the state.

Actually, F. benjamina is really hard to kill as long as the environmental conditions (light, soil, moisture, and temperature) are correct. They respond really well to hard pruning. I worked at a garden center for 20 years. We sold a lot of ficus, and got a lot of them back half dead due to people NOT understanding normal acclimation (ie, the leaf drop when moved), or from abusing them like overwatering or underwatering or putting them virtually in the dark. They ALWAYS came back with just a little TLC. Don't be afraid at all to cut them back as hard as you want. They will even regenerate directly from the trunk if they have to. Just be sure to do it outdoors or over a drop cloth, and don't get the sap in your eyes or mouth, it burns. And, when you do the top, knock it out of the pot, cut off a good share of the root mass, the outer quarter or so, and especially all of the twisted mass of fine feeder roots along the base of the pot. Then, try to wash off as much of the old soil from the roots as possible. Repot it in really high quality soilless mix, put it into good, bright light, run it just a bit dry for the first 7 days, then water it a little more to keep the soil moderately moist, and it will bounce back in just a month or so. When the new growth is a couple of inches long, give it a little fertilizer of your choice.

Hi everyone, I’m located in New York City and I’m looking for a cutting from Ficus Audrey aka Banyan Tree (Ficus benghalensis ‘Audrey’). In return, I can offer a 2" Pilea peperomioides (aka Friendship plant aka Chinese Money Plant) baby (see picture) they grow fast. I suppose that's the most desirable plant I have, although also have two potted cuttings from my Jade plant (Crassula ovata) one 2.5" already well rooted and is 4" slightly behind in the rooting process (2 weeks). Alternatively could do a fresh cutting from any of the following plants: Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica) Fiddle Leaf Fig (Ficus lyrata) Swiss Cheese Plant (Monstera deliciosa) Swiss Cheese Vine (Monstera Adansonii) Fabian Aralia Stump (Polyscias scutellaria) Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata)

Interesting and useful advice indeed for the little "story" about my 20-ish year old hibiscus. I don't repot, per se, as I like the pot mine is in, but I lift, root trim, and replace some soil when I can and if needed (I confess to sometimes dumping the old stuff back with the trimmed roots to rot back in, but that's not recommended, but you do what you have to do when you start this and find out you don't have enough soil to replace what you just knocked off; it works if it has to). It works well enough. And I feed regularly-- sometimes organically (rarely solid and often liquid), plus sometimes synthetics in that one, plus flush the pot occasionally in the sink or outdoors in summer to remove built-up salt (not particularly critical for hibiscus, but helpful a few times a year for many plants, and it gives me a chance to clean the drip tray and pot base). Before the counter-factual argument starts: Yes, I acknowledge that reusing soil is not recommended. I said that. Yes, I'm aware of how decay works. And yes, it does work in pots, as bacteria and fungi are active in them. No, I don't do solids every time. I said that. Top trimming, as well (and not mentioned in most of the above posts) can help keep your plant in tip-top shape. I cut back the hibiscus regularly to keep it shaped properly, and keep the growth fresh and at the height where I like it, as well as keep the blooms near eye level as opposed to near the ceiling. Otherwise, it would regrettably lose all its lower leaves. Check any good ficus guide for cutting back; as it's probably currently fully root bound and not very happy, it won't need that until well after other issues are taken care of first, but it's something to consider.