x Gasteraloe 'Green Ice'

Roots.  Does a root system somehow push all the potting soil out of the pot, or does the potting media deteriorate to the point of nothingness?  I did plant this x Gasteraloe 'Green Ice' in plenty of potting soil a year or two ago. After 10 minutes of shaking yesterday, I manged to shake it out of the pot in which it was firmly wedged.   At least I didn't have to worry about the soil getting too soggy:  there wasn't any.

Time to repot?


I really had roses to prune.  I was in the process of doing so out in the blazing sun, but it was at least 80F (27 C) if not more, and 80F in January seems hotter than 80F in July.  I was ready to faint from the heat, and so retreated into the shade and repotted 'Green Ice'.

Happy now? 
 

Then I moved onto another potted plant, my poor 'Disneyland' rose, which has been suffering in a pot since early October due to the koi pond remodel.  The pond guys put it back in the ground when they were done, but the electrical guys dug it right back up again trying to repair my sprinkler system.  The rose was in a 20 gallon pot of mud for all of rainy rainy December.  The soil was only now dry enough to replant.  Since it was  shaded in the area, I got to work.



Oh dear.  The root system was....missing.   All I could do was remove some cane to make the top a little more proportional to what was left of the roots.



I replanted it, but I'm not hopeful.  I think it will languish and then slip into miserable decline.  I'm going to miss this one, and may have to go looking for another. 

Going to miss this one.  See why?