По сравнению с прошлой неделей фикус выглядит лучше, а орхидея больше не вянет.

This phrase means compared with last week or in comparison with last week.

Russian often puts this kind of time/comparison phrase at the beginning to set the context first. So the structure is:

• По сравнению с прошлой неделей — compared with last week
• фикус выглядит лучше — the ficus looks better
• а орхидея больше не вянет — and/as for the orchid, it no longer wilts

Starting with the comparison phrase is very natural in Russian.

Yes. По сравнению с is a fixed expression meaning compared with or in comparison with.

You should learn it as a whole chunk:

• по сравнению с чем? — compared with what?

Examples:

• По сравнению с зимой лето здесь мягкое. — Compared with winter, summer here is mild.
• По сравнению с братом он высокий. — Compared with his brother, he is tall.

Even though сравнение is a noun meaning comparison, in this phrase you usually just treat по сравнению с as one unit.

Because after с in the expression по сравнению с, the noun goes in the instrumental case.

So:

• прошлая неделя — nominative
• с прошлой неделей — instrumental

The adjective also changes to match:

• прошлая → прошлой
• неделя → неделей

This is a very common pattern in Russian: adjective and noun change together.

Because фикус is the subject of выглядит.

The basic clause is:

• фикус выглядит лучше — the ficus looks better

Here:

• фикус = subject, so nominative
• выглядит = verb, looks/appears
• лучше = better

The same is true in the second clause:

• орхидея is the subject of вянет

Выглядит is from выглядеть, which means to look, to appear, or to seem in terms of condition or appearance.

So:

• фикус выглядит лучше = the ficus looks better

It does not mean literally is looking at something. For that, Russian would use a different verb, such as смотреть.

Examples:

• Ты хорошо выглядишь. — You look good.
• Дом выглядит старым. — The house looks old.

Because лучше is being used as a comparative, roughly like better, and it modifies the verb выглядит.

So:

• выглядит лучше — looks better

Compare:

• лучший = best / better as an adjective for a noun in some contexts
• лучше = better as a comparative word, often with verbs or in predicate use

Examples:

• Этот вариант лучше. — This option is better.
• Она выглядит лучше. — She looks better.

So in this sentence, лучше is exactly what you want.

А often connects two clauses when there is a contrast, comparison, or shift of topic, even if both parts are positive.

Here the sentence is talking about two different plants:

• фикус выглядит лучше
• а орхидея больше не вянет

So а works well because it means something like:

• while
• whereas
• and as for

It is not a strong contradiction like но, but it does mark a contrast between the two separate situations.

Больше не means no longer or not anymore.

So:

• орхидея больше не вянет = the orchid is no longer wilting

This is a very common Russian expression.

Examples:

• Я больше не курю. — I don’t smoke anymore.
• Он больше не работает здесь. — He no longer works here.

Literally, больше often means more, but in the pattern больше не it means not anymore.

Вянет comes from the verb вянуть, which means to wilt, to droop, or to wither.

So:

• орхидея вянет — the orchid is wilting
• орхидея больше не вянет — the orchid is no longer wilting

Вянет is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• imperfective

That matches орхидея because орхидея is singular.

Because the sentence describes an ongoing state/process: the orchid is no longer wilting.

The imperfective verb вянуть is natural here because it refers to the process or condition, not to a completed one-time action.

Russian often uses imperfective verbs for:

• ongoing processes
• repeated actions
• general states

Here the idea is about the plant’s condition over time, so imperfective makes sense.

Because а is connecting two full clauses, each with its own subject and verb:

1. фикус выглядит лучше
2. орхидея больше не вянет

In Russian, when coordinating two independent clauses with а, you normally use a comma.

So the comma is standard punctuation here.

Because По сравнению с прошлой неделей is just a normal prepositional phrase at the beginning of the sentence, not a parenthetical remark.

It functions as a regular adverbial phrase setting the comparison context, so no comma is needed:

• По сравнению с прошлой неделей фикус выглядит лучше...

A native English speaker may want to insert a pause there, but Russian punctuation is based more on grammatical structure than on pauses.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, though the original version sounds natural.

For example, you could also say:

• Фикус по сравнению с прошлой неделей выглядит лучше, а орхидея больше не вянет.

This puts more focus on фикус first.

You could also hear:

• Фикус выглядит лучше по сравнению с прошлой неделей...

But the original sentence is probably the most neutral and smooth if the whole sentence is about how things have changed since last week.

A rough stress guide:

• по сравнЕнию
• с прОшлой недЕлей
• фИкус
• выглЯдит
• лУчше
• орхидЕя
• бОльше не
• вЯнет

A few useful notes:

• что-style reductions do not apply here; pronunciation is fairly straightforward.
• In выглядит, learners often misplace the stress. It is выглЯдит.
• In орхидея, the stress is on де: орхидЕя.

Yes. In this sentence, выглядит лучше can suggest both:

• the ficus literally looks better visually
• the ficus seems to be in better condition

With plants, Russian often uses appearance verbs in a broader sense, so looks better naturally implies is doing better as well.

That makes the sentence very idiomatic.