It really maters on the species. different plants, different hardiness extremes., different ways to handle cold damage. Somethings bounce back, others rot and die. There is no one answer.

Thanks, Mara!
I'll observe the plants and see what happens.

Do you know your species?

Yes, I was able to get ID from this forum.
I have done some reading about these particular ones:

Aeonium
Anacampseros tlephiastrum variegata "sunrise"
Aloe Harlana
Aloe "Minnie Belle" Aloe Hybrid

This next set I have just acquired so I haven't done any research about them yet:

Mammillaria elongata hybrid
Ruschia karroica
Crassula Tom Thumb
Mammillaria gracilis
Kalanchoe tubiflora (mother of thousands)
Gymnocalycium delaetii
Sempervivum calcarem
Haworthia retusa acuminata variegata (white ghost)

Thanks! I hoped I typed or got the names correct.

Google them and look for hardiness estimations. Your Aloe harlan a probably is aloe hemmengii . That is a rare aloe and is always being misrepresented . I look for the DG plant data base. or the San Marcus description.
I don't know how cold it gets in LA. This is online info and not personal experience.
M. elongata - 25F
Ruschia karroica is probably fine outside in LA. I had a Ruschia in Austin and it did suffer in the cold but I felt that it would do well in Z9.
Crassula tom Thumb z 9b
Kalanchoe tubiflora 30F
Gymnocalycium 25F (?)
Sempervivum --- NO WORRIES semis are hardy
Haworthia retusa 30F

Thanks a lot, wantonamara!!! I have yet to familiarize myself with zones and hardiness. I will look them up. Thank you for the information :))

Btw, what is the difference between Aloe harlana and Aloe hemmengii?

Usually , I tell people to google and check out the images, BUT with Aloe harlana, if you google it you get 85% of the images are Aloe hemmengii. Aloe Harlana is much larger then Aloe hemmengii. Its form is "strappier". The leaves arch slowly upwards bending towards the sky. , Aloe hemmengii is a lower rosette that spreads it leaves outwards like a starfish. The color of a Harlana is a paler green and the long slashes is only slightly lighter than the base color. Aloe hemmengii has a darker green and whiter slashes. Harlana's Flowers are redder and hemmengii's are pinkish. There are other aloes that look similar Aloe somaliensis That looks like hemmengii in coloring but things get more confusing. I think it is larger than the hemmengii. When I google , I again, see hemmengii images intermixed in the selection.

Everyone wants the rare Harlana and stores love to sell the hemmengii's and call them Harlana's. I think it has gotten so bad that the nurseries think their hemengii's are harlanas. This is definitely one that I would not count on google images as an authority for verification.

Here is a small Aloe hemmengii of mine shyly behind the stinky showboater there.

Oh, I see. I googled them when I saw your reply - and I was confused~~

Here are some pics of what I have.

Aloe hemmengii has some variation in the aloe with varying degrees of white and green.The sweet red marginal teeth look like hemengii. I would be slow to ID because I think the spots on Harlana start out darker and fade to their more muted look. I think I remember someone saying that. I haven't never seen a juvenile Harlana , just pictures of older more mature ones

Here is an interesting discussion about the dilemma.

Here is a link that might be useful: harlana/hemmengii discussion

Here is another group of pictures about the variability of Aloe Harlana

Here is a link that might be useful: More Harlana pictures.

Thanks, wantonamara, for the links! I will study them XD

I was trying to find out more about Aloe and I did saw how 'harlana' was used to label a 'hemmingii.' So what happened to Aloe harlana? Is it really that rare and hard to find in stores?

Hi there I'm also in LA. I'm near the coast. How far inland are you?

Where I'm at its 55-75 daily during the winter. It only gets to 40s for lows, but inland it can get to 30 degrees or lower at night.

Also I think you don't have to water the outdoor plants as much, especially if they're winter dormant plants.

I'm still trying to figure out how much to water each species etc, but in general I just water less with the cold weather/ rain coming. Make sure you have great draining soil for this season.

I'm also fairly new but I will learn a lot this winter if plants rot out.

I have a lot of new cuttings, and plants that are just taking root, so I'm crossing fingers that they don't get too much water from rain. One good thing is it's only been raining once every week or two, but we did get a good pouring last week. Because of that pouring, I'm not going to be watering most of my plants too much for at least 10-15 days. The ones that are actively growing, or in smaller pots I may water a little more. ie smaller sedums, growing jades (crassula), kalanchloe and aloe.

The agaves, echeverias, euphorbia that are going into winter dormancy I suppose I shouldn't water as much. Some agave in larger pots I moved under roof overhangs so that they won't get rainfall or rot.

My cacti I try to not water at all, but I don't really have many.

Still not exactly sure how little water, but I'm trying to figure this out as I go along.

Also I'm noticing that some winter "growers" are actively growing like my jades, whereas other winter "growers" like senecio manderlesi (blue chalksticks) aren't really growing, nor are the cuttings taking roots. Jades/sedum/graptoveria I can just stick in soil or lay out and they will start showing roots. Whereas senecios/ aloes will just rot or sit around still dormant if I try to plant them right now. This is just what I'm noticing right now from cuttings.

I suppose others from LA can help more with winter care.

Here is a link that might be useful: dormancy table

This post was edited by yorkiemiki on Thu, Nov 28, 13 at 3:28

Hi yorkiemiki. I am about 33 miles from Long Beach. I wonder how low it can get here during winter? I also need to observe my plants more and see how much water they need during this season.

Thank you very much for your reply and the information you have given me, it was very helpful indeed :)) I have also learned a lot from your observations.

I have not been watering them for about a month now because of the rain - which is good :) However, I did find my agave rot (I forgot to include several other plants on my list above). Some of my smaller plants like the Anacampseros tlephiastrum, aloes, and kalanchoes, are okay and are actually growing.

I will continue to observe and read about these plants. Thank you again! Happy Thanksgiving :))

Try going to this site. Enter a location close to you then scroll down to the bottom of a page and find a weather station close to you. I have several within 2 miles from me. I click them and I can see the days weather stats that are refreshed every several minutes. One can then go to a monthly or yearly page and research the lows and highs of your area. I love these weather stations. They are invaluable to those of us who grow things in areas where plants are marginal or tender. Many are new so sometimes their info does not cover the whole year, so check the graphs and see how far back in the year they go.

I love to play with fire and this site helps me think I am getting real tools to conquer winter.. LOL. I am still in "Winter denial"

If you are hilly, be aware that the weather stations will show the microclimates of the immediate area that might be different from you or they have put the station too close to a house or in a irrigation area.. I find that very interesting. The station across the road from me is in a hollow and they were 10 degrees colder than me last night but when it was cold, wet and windy, I was colder than them. It was a totally still starry night last night and my top of the hill situation stayed warmer. My cold air sank into his hollow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wunderground.com

My local Wunderground weather station of choice is a couple of miles away, but only about 10' above the elevation of my house. It's the best combination of location and elevation of the weather stations in my area, but they have off-and-on hardware problems. There's another station three miles away but the same elevation as my house. I compare their readings.

The next-closest few stations are either 100+ feet lower than here, or atop one mountain or another. I ignore them.

My cold air sinks down into the used-to-be-pasture below me, which is where the fruit trees and the veggies are. **sigh**

Yes they will list the elevation of the weather station on the description. God , do I love geological maps and surveys., so Yes I do know my elevation. There is so much info out there helping you in the simple act of gardening. I love the modern era in this regard. Doplar radar and all the rest.

FluffyClou, you can enter your zip code here to find out your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone:
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

The USDA zone gives you the theoretical winter low temperatures for your location. Depending on the size and geography of your zip code, it may be a great match for you ... or not.

To enter your zone in your GW profile so it will show up in your posts, you'll have to go to your GW page and make the change there; if you put it in that box when you're writing a post, the zone info will be on that post, but not subsequent posts you make. IIRC.

Here's Sunset magazine's zone system for your area (I assume you'll want the second map rather than the larger first map):
http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/sunset-climate-zone-los-angeles-area-00418000067298/

Sunset's zones are more descriptive of the general climate, rather than simply winter low temps. For example, it will tell you if your area is too warm for that cute plant on your wish list to survive (assuming you can find a plant description which includes Sunset zones).

wantonamara, I come from a family that used to fight over who got first dibs on the folding map enclosed in the month's National Geographic.

Are you familiar with your county's online property maps? You can see zoning info; buildings; who owns what (and what they pay in taxes); elevation, water, and other geographical info (though unfortunately on our map, 10' elevation can't be seen without clearing all other data, including streets and parcel boundaries -- so what use is it?); political, agricultural, school, and Census districts; soil types; election precincts ... plus just about anything else the county government's employees could possibly want to see.

It'll be on your county's web site, possibly under GIS or GoMaps.

Thank you. We are map geeks. My son is a surveyor-to-be. I have hard copy geodesic maps that we combined with an arial map and drew in all the trees and water colored it years ago when we bought this land. I think it was pre county website. I had to go down to the county and get the survey and the arial photograph in person. Then we had to get things enlarged to similar sizes and then make our own map. It was fun. Now I can just go to google earth. LOL. I have the water maps and soil maps here. They are very pretty.

Well, I can't match your map-making feats. But I have not quite 2 acres, and in the time after I saw the house and before the purchase went through and I retired and moved here, I had fun measuring the 8 1/2 x 11 photocopy of the Previous Owners' survey.

Then I spent a fair amount of time figuring out the wiggling long north side that follows the neighbor's driveway ... and the wiggling creek on the short east side, and putting it in Paint pixel-by-pixel.

Google Maps in those days wasn't very clear for this county. I'm amazed at the clarity now, and that we're one of the areas in the country where property lines are shown.

I apologize to Fuffy to getting a wee bit off topic.

here is a image taken off of a FLOPPY ,( LOL). Our land starts at are the road by the upper left water tank to back (right) to the left of the smaller winding road. The second of the parallel broken straight voids to the left mark our other boundary. One can see that there is about a 100' difference in elevation on that side and the land drops off on the other side so cold air does sink away from us. This map was drawn before any of our buildings were built. We built on the saddle between the three hills west of where the ravine starts.

We had a great deal of fun drawing the map. I made wrapping paper out Black and white copies of it . No one got what they represented. We had just bought the land in '95. They just thought the wrapping paper was weird.

Lovely! Doubtless you're the only person in the history of the world who's ever printed wrapping paper topo maps of their property.

My apologies to Fluffy also for this side excursion.

Oh, it is alright, Wantonamara and missingtheobvious :)) I appreciate the conversation between the two of you - I have never really thought of using maps and the likes when I started with plants but now I see its importance!

Thank you for the information you have shared. I will do my best to study more about it. It is interesting, indeed :)) And I thought I "know" geology and maps - but I guess not, lol.
That is a nice map right there :D

A big "Thank You!" :))