Rose,

There's no doubt you'd have to protect them from the sun, but yes, generally all of those are suitable for your winters - I wish I had them here in the ground. I want the Jovibarba, I need the Jovibarba.

Any porous soil mix will work with those plants (they're not that choosy of a group of plants), but for convenience's sake, I'd get a bag of perlite, a bag of cactus soil (sift out the chunks - commercial cactus soil usually isn't suitable for succulents but these plants shouldn't have a problem), make a 50/50 ratio of the two, and pot the plants up. Then use gravel / top dressing to cover the soil and allow you to water the pot without the perlite splashing up and out.

You could also go off the deep end and go to the ends of the earth, relatively speaking, in pursuit of the ideal soil mix. For reading about obsession, for exapmple, search for 'Al's Gritty Mix' and look for threads that have at least 70 postings...I heartily approve of being so, so maybe I'm too partial.

{{gwi:468792}}

Rose, I noticed that they ship the plants bare roots. I'm a newbie too, so I bought plants already rooted in pots. There was a lesser chance of me killing them that way. You might go to nurseries near you and see what plants they are selling and see what they actually look like. They probably are selling things that grow where you live. It will make life a lot easier for a beginner. But save Jeff's post (there's a "clip this post" option at the top of each posting) for soil mix if you are buying bare root. As he mentions, there are a ton of opinions about soil! I do what he says for my simple little collection and it works well.

Also, the people on this Forum are extremely knowledgeable, generous with their time and advice, and patient and understanding with newbies. Succulents are not like roses where you can apply what you do for one rose to all roses. Succulents culture is widely variable and it takes a while to learn. So don't feel shy about posting your questions. I'm always learning from what other people post and from their photos.

I looked at the link Rose gave and looking at the photos,I can't tell the difference between the Jovibarba and the Semperviums. So I read about them in one of my books and it mentioned that you have to wait until they bloom to definitely tell them apart. Now that could be a long time.

Jeff, what is that a photo of? Nice color! Looks like a couple of pups in there too!

All of them should be ok in your area but in hot summer you will most likely have to provide mid day shade.
the JoviBarta Rollers are easy to tell from normal semps! The chicks that form, sit on top of the plants attached by a thin thread instead of the stolans that streatch out from the plants. The Heufilli grows similar to an aeoneum, grows on a stem and adds heads as it grows. Which you wil have to cut off to propagate new plants. Just about any good draining soil mix will do.I haven't bought from SMG for awhile but i got a lot of mine from the original owners years ago and they were nice plants then.
Send me a email! I can send you a collection of those types for postage in the spring.
cliff

Thanks so much for all your replies with suggestions and help with how to tell some of the different succulents apart. I like that plant picture. Of course I'm ogling all the plants in the back ground as well as the one in the foreground.

I can provide some bright shade for the succulents. Not much can take the afternoon Texas sun, at least not the kind we had last summer. I was putting up sheet tents and beach umbrellas for the roses!

Penny, strangely enough I haven't found much of a selection of hardy succulents locally. I'm going to be watching for the next cacti club show and sale. Perhaps they will have some.

Cliff, I'd be absolutely delighted to send postage for some starts, but your page doesn't enable receiving email. You can change that by going to the bottom of the opening page to this forum and clicking on "member services" Or you could just email me from "my page" with your email addy.