My plant survived thru my ignorance. I had a nice Aeonium arboreum on my balcony here in southern Florida. If faced full west and got lots of sun and grew well. One day we had a storm and the plant blew over bending the long stem in half. Not knowing what to do, I straightened it out and duct taped a stick to it, figuring I had nothing to lose. After about a few months the plant just didn't look good. So I removed the tape and was shocked to find the inner part of the broken stem at the break was gone and only the outer bark was left. Again, with nothing to lose, I used a scissor to cut back the missing part to a good section of stem. I pushed it into the soil and the plant is growing very well today with an 8 inch or greater head and with lots of little plants coming out of the stem. I guess there's always hope if you don't know what you are doing and have nothing to lose. <g>