Don't give up! I can tell you our 4 Sambucus shrubs really took off this year after being planted 3 years ago. They are finally stunning and thriving! We were really considering giving up on them if they looked as ratty at the end of this season as they did for the last couple. I'm really stunned and wish I had a before/after pic because it really is something. By the way... No fertilizer - no nothing other than it's "natural" environment and some minimal pruning/shaping.

What zone you are in? Are the plants dormant now? I'm not a sage expert but in general... When you move a plant, digging it up causes loss of root mass. This means the plant has a more difficult time taking up water. Frequently plants wilt under this condition. Relatively speaking, a small number of roots cannot take up enough water to support a large number of leaves. When this happens, it helps the plant by pruning it back after the move, equalizing root mass and leaf mass. I've done this before and the plant stopped wilting and recovered. The next year it was full and looked great. So based on that, it may actually be easier on the plants to move them now before there is a large number of leaves. You shouldn't have a problem with wilting. Just my opinion.

They are probably ok. Washingtonia seeds germinate really easy. I soak mine in room temp water, overnight and plant the next day. 2-3 weeks later I have hundreds sprouting. I don't think that the hot water is needed for Washingtonia, but helps on some of the thick coated seeds, like the needle palm.

You did not kill your seeds. If cold weather killed seeds, there wouldn't be any plants in most parts of the world. All of the seeds you listed are seeds I will be putting outdoors in the next few weeks to be frozen until spring. In the spring they will pop up just fine after being out in snow and cold for months. Check out the Winter Sowing forum and you will find hundreds of folks putting there seeds outside in the freezing cold right now.