What I would do is exactly what your instincts are telling you to do. Plant what you can and water them well. They'll have a better chance of surviving in the ground. For the others, water really well - let them sit in water for 20 minutes to soak up as much as they can - then place in shade or dappled shade. Work with what you feel would be best. Your instincts are your best measure and you are the one who knows your weather at this time of year. That is what I would do.

Hi everyone, Adam here, a newbie to these forums, well I've been lurking awhile and this my first post. Hoping someone could answer a few concerns I have. I'll admit I don't know much about turfgrass or gardening but my wife and I bought a house about a year and half ago that had a beautiful St.Augustine lawn, not sure what variation. Anyways last years drought coupled with me messing up by putting weed and feed and fungicided on my lawn (been over a year since) destroyed about half of my front lawn. There is still good St.Augustine everywhere there was shade, so basically the slopes where there is full sun and side yard is dead. I just had a new irrigation system installed, and I'm determined to get my lawn back to looking how it was when we bought it. I've done a lot of research and have pretty much decided Floratam St.Augustine is what I'll go with. FYI I live in the San Antonio - Medical Center Area) I guess some questions I have are...... 1) How and where can I get a soil test? 2) Can anyone recommend a good company that installs sod? Are any sod producers favorable over another I've mostly seen King Ranch and Milbergers? 3) A big question I have as I am in the process of getting bids is what is the best method for extracting old sod and putting new sod in. I've read so many different things, not sure what is best but would be nice to have some info when deciding on a contractor. 4) Being that I have still have good grass in the shady areas and back yard where I have live oak canopies, is resodding even necessary? I've heard from some that I could get some really good quality compost and just top dress and my grass may come back on its own. 5) If I do resod, can I just resod the dead areas or will that look strange as I doubt I have Floratam now. Just curious how mixing different variations of St. Augustine works and what it would look like. I'm willing to fork out the money to completely resod my front lawn if necessary, just curious if people here that know much more than me think I should as I feel overwhelmed and confused honestly. The first bid I got was for $2000 7 pallets of sod to redo entire front. Ok sorry to ramble and for the long post, thanks to everyone for any info for those who have already provided very valuable info in my months of lurking here. It is appreciated.

hookilau good detective work! That is interesting looking plant, but branching is very different from OP...judging from the photos only, not familiar with the plant. I have this photo of one of my hardy trailing sedums, branching is similar to OP (photo isn't the best...hope you can see what I am trying to point out) :

Zebra cactus is just common name, the plant is Haworthia. Next, the skinny & tall one looks like a Crassula ovata (jade plant). It is very tall & skinny because it doesn't get enough light. It should be strong enough to self-support. Can you arrange for more light? Week growth will not revert, but if you prune it and keep in more light, it should start thickening. Jade (at least IMO) look best with thick trunk. Next one may be Sempervivum - but photo is too small for me to be sure, and it could be different plant. Perhaps you can post sharper close-up? It is potted too low/deep in the pot IMO. Last one is a cactus, but someone else has to ID it (I have only 3 or so...). The flower is 'fake' since it is glued to the top and yes, they use hot glue gun to do it... It is a bloom of strawflower/everlasting (Helichrysum bracteatum), they last forever. All of the succulents would benefit from being potted in well draining mix. If nothing else, get a bag of perlite, sift it to get rid of dust & smallest particles (kitchen sieve work well; do not breathe dust). Mix perlite with soil minimum 50/50, or even more perlite. You could use pumice instead if you can get it. Adding grit helps a lot too. (I grow succulents in a mix of grit, perlite and some turface).