Polk Dots Enter Hibernation Mode

This may be the second winter for some of these plants.  I am finding that when the nights get colder and sunlight is fleeting, these plants will bunker down into very dense, low, furry clusters until the winter passes.  Sometimes the long stems from the summer's growth will brown and drop all of its leaves, and sometimes they will hang onto their color and leaves.  However, with this plant, it is so stringy in shape and fickle with its leaves, that it is quite messy.  So, I have decided to prune them back even though some of the stems were still green.

Below is a "before" photo where you can see the stringy-ness of the plants and how much of the green is long since gone.  What you don't see is the pile of wilted leaves and blooms that have drifted into a pile on the floor - such a messy plant!

The stem on the right has a lot of green left on it yet, so I left it on for now.  Additionally I don't think it quite had the furball mass of dense foliage at its base like the others do, so I should probably leave something attached to help it generate energy.

Ugh, this just looks like a gangly mess.  But you can see the short dense furballs at the bottom quite nicely.  I'm not sure why they have almost no green in them, could be just an energy conservation sort of thing for the winter.

Some of the stems had furball growth at the ends.  I am taking this as a sign that I should experiment in propagation.  I'm snipping off some of these ends and setting them in water.  I don't know if they'll take to that strategy of propagation, but we'll find out soon enough.

Here's another furball at the end of a long stem:

...and the after shot!  Like I said, a couple stems were still quite green, so I let them stay to help feed the plant during this draining season.  It looks much better, although that begonia in the middle is driving me nuts.  I think it just hates that stinking plastic pot.  I'll see if I can find something better for it this weekend.

Here's a shot of the three lucky clippings that may one day grow into their own little clusters.

I've set them in a shot glass of tap water, making sure no leaves are in the water and attempting to get as much stem submerged as possible.

Another angle..

I'll check in on these every couple weeks and hopefully will have something good to report soon!