Pest battle with Hen and Chicks — and how I won

I had a serious problem with root rot from overwatering and poor drainage on my Hen and Chicks earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate extremely low maintenance between waterings, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a fairy garden or miniature landscape and improved my attention to using a gritty well-draining cactus compost mix. new offsets appearing around the base in spring was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.