My info has Echeveria ruffles rated as 9b cold hardy to 25 so it would have died without protection . Aloe Barbarae will bite the dust unless protected and it gets LARGE, Spiral aloe MIGHT make it in shade by a fountain OR in your ACed house. This plant likes COOL summers. I have had a few friends fall for them and they are good growers (in Wimberly Texas) and they killed them. I grow Aloe Cameroni in a pot. It is gorgious. San Marcus growers has it listed at 25 - 30, Daves gardens has it listed at 20. Brian Kemble has it listed as upper 20's. So there is a disagreement here. I keep it in a pot because I do not want to loose it. If you are chancing it in the winter and you see a big bad front come in , Cut some of it off and bring it inside and save it to root, or dig the whole plant up and shove it in the garage. If you leave it in the ground and it melts, chances are it might come back from the roots. I have had plants reappear 2 years later. Aloe macrocentra comes back very well. But it takes awhile. I have 5 aloe striatas of different variations. I am slowly taking my extra ones and putting them in the ground and will be seeing if I can get the duplicates through a few winters under a frost cloth. They will be a good choice for you. Check out A. striata var karasbergensis. It is a beauty!!!! A brand new baby one because its parentage was so good. You also might want to check out aloe capitata var capitata it is hardy to the low 20's. Now one must watch out if it will get leaf burn before that. It will still need protecting. It stays on a southern stone pato by a cement pillar most of the winter. Aloe variegata would be a good one for you also. This Gaster aloe has been a good grower and has promising hardiness becouse of the aeistata parentage. With your interest in Succulents, you might want to check out the C & S forum.. Desert to tropics grows these plants In a green house and are interested in selling them. If they told you that Spiral aloe will grow in inland dessert texas , They are full of it. Sorry to be so blunt. I have been told a lot of things by nurseries. What natives are you thinking of. I bet some Opuntia leucotricha would be killer in your needs. It becomes an oborial opuntia with age. I can set you up with a derth of opuntia pads. Are you looking into any of the shrubs that Sally Wasowski " Native Texas Plants; landscaping Region by Region" Here is a link that might be useful: My aloe set of photos

Del Rio is right across the Texas/Mexico border at Cuidad Acuna, (Mexico) The local landscape is arid, dry, and a lot of brown, in areas. Those areas would be where the goats have been kept. We have a parcel of land just north of Del Rio, on the Devil's River. It is a beautiful river, and our land is beautiful, but it has never had a goat on it, nor a chain. It is like it was when God made it. I love it there. It will get cold at Del Rio, but not often, not on consecutive days, and not real cold. You will love Amistad Reservoir, a man-made lake, with caves decorated with caveman drawings. Hunting is big there, and that is what our land is used for. Many, many Crockett and Boone deer taken there. I love nandina, but I have been told I am weird- many times, LOL. You will see acres of Texas sage. Remember the book, "Riders of the Purple Sage"? That is it, and IT is gorgeous! Well, the book isn't about the sage, but it is gorgeous! Welcome to Texas. I hope you enjoy it here, so much so that you will wish you had got here sooner. I lived at Marquette, and it is beautiful, but Dern! it is so cold! We had to plug our car in, lest it freeze! We rode motorcycles around Lake Superior at the end of June, and the lake was still frozen! Here, heat is the biggest problem. It does get hot! Janie Here is a link that might be useful: Check out Del Rio

@Ann-SoCalZ10b SunStZ22 - As for the milkweed, it looks like you don't have the right species to be good for monarchs in SoCal. There are different milkweeds native in different parts of the world, and as I understand it, eating non-native species is actively detrimental to the monarchs. (https://entomologytoday.org/2015/01/16/planting-the-wrong-kind-of-milkweed-may-harm-monarch-butterflies). Lots of people are unaware of this so they think they're helping the monarchs when they're actually not. Here is a good resource about California milkweeds: https://www.xerces.org/publications/identification-and-monitoring-guides/native-milkweeds-california-pollinator-plants. Several of them are quite beautiful. I recommend https://www.laspilitas.com/search?search_text=milkweed for more excellent info and to purchase.

So I was watching a weekly youtube gardening video (the host runs an independent "boutique" nursery by chance, not far from where I reside). This week he was raving about a quite new tender salvia that he was able to show viewers called "Tropicolor" (there is "Sunrise", "Claret" and "Carmine" with "Sunrise" winning second place for Plant of the Year at the 2025 RHS Chelsea Show). https://middletonnurseries.co.uk/product/salvia-tropcolor-sunrise/ https://middletonnurseries.co.uk/product/salvia-tropcolor-claret/ https://middletonnurseries.co.uk/product/salvia-tropcolor-carmine/ According to the host the Tropicolor series was developed by the same individual(s) who brought us the always impressive "Amistad". The host had actual plants for each colour and they were vigorous and floriferous with the unusual feature of burgundy colour for the underside of the foliage. I have my fingers crossed that they will be available in Canada come spring 2026.