Thanks for the tips everyone - unfortunately, I took them out and I think I left them out for too long and the leaves are looking sort of transparent/white-ish now. I'll take a picture later, but it's weird - they look like they are overwatered but they've been in the sun so I don't know why they would look like that? In other news, I just got some new little succulents for my classroom! I'll post tomorrow.

Ok so I posted a lot of pictures because I want to explain what plants are doing well in this location.I took out all the grass and have been trying to install a complete water wise landscape. The soil is new and is supposed to be well draining cactus and succulent soil. I converted the yard to drip although thus far have just watered with a hose because I am still struggling to find plants that are going to live and thrive. The last 5 pics are of what I planted months ago which is doing ok. I have barrel cactus which doesnt seem to be growing but its not dying either. I have several red yucca which were in bloom last year and havent grown much either but I hope they will bloom again now that its spring. I also have french lavender which has grown and looks great.I have sticks on fire which has grown and looks great. And the elephants food I replaced after over-watering it and now its doing well. The tall plant is called a candella wax plant but has other names and varieties and I plan to get another since its grown and attracts hummingbirds. So I still need to plant the blue glow agave which I think will do well because this is a very hot sunny location and there are agave growing all over this area. I live in southern California but not on the coast. I am about an hour inland and so thats where it gets tricky because I love these little echeveria,crassula,flapjacks and varieties of succulents which can be more sensitive to the sun and water. I planted some in a pot and they actually did well when it rained for months and when they were in the shade on the side of the house. But I need to get my front yard landscaped and dont want to just dump a ton of rocks and dg on it. I want to have lots of plants,cactus and succulents,and many varieties. So they look ok right now because I just planted them 3 days ago but already I can see them burning. I see brown spots,shrived leaves,but others look fine. I am afraid to water them at all. I checked the soil with a moisture tester and it showed a 5 which is a midpoint on the scale of 1-10 so I assume they are wet at the roots. Should I water when the tester shows 1? Should I look for other signs? Since my yard has no trees and is completely exposed to the East and gets morning sun til about 3-4 pm,its really almost 10 hrs of sun before it goes behind the house. I have nothing to shade these plants and I need smaller low laying plants on the front half of my yard towards the street and than I planned to put the barrel cactus and agave and sticks on fire,red yucca,and other larger aloe. Last year I tried the echeveria and it died as did some of the grasses,some sedum ground cover,and just about everything else I could find that was low or short. The summers here can get into the 100's for days and even weeks. This week was in the high 80's and so already I am seeing the succulents looking great at the store when under the shade cover in the nursery but when I take it home and plant it,I just fear its all going to die very quickly. Any ideas and suggestions are much appreciated.

if it wasn't because i can see that the soil is wet, i would say it it looks wilted from underwatering. so maybe you're overwatering it and it's got root rot. dieffenbachia are one of those plants that won't forgive you if you overwater it. however, you also have to make sure that it never goes fully dry and you maintain the soil moderately moist for these. that being said, make sure it's in a pot with good hole/s at the bottom to let it breath despite the slightly damp (not soggy) soil. but one thing is for sure, that plant needs more sunlight (indirect) because not only is it only growing small leaves but it has lost all its variegation. if you want to maintain it in a darker part of the house, it needs at least a lamp near it, but at least 6 inches away, because even cfl bulbs can scorch leaves like sunlight.

I agree with Dave on this being a fussy cane begonia. Root rot comes from too much watering as well. I keep mine in the basement and have learned to keep them on the drier side in winter. Mildew is the one issue that can make these types quickly turn ugly. I don't mist my canes but I do water by hose so if some of the leaves get wet, not a huge deal. I have several I've grown from seeds collected off the mother plant that seem identical or slightly different. I wished I had known about watering back when I started getting canes. Here was the mother plant back in Sep, 2009 in the same 18" pot of Encanto Bronze (the bigger cane), Mrs. Hashimoto (the plain green one with white blooms, and Morocco. close up of it, Mrs. Hashimoto and Morocco. Here it was in bloom that year. The seed grown ones last Sep in a slightly smaller pot (maybe 15") and blooming. The plant to the left is Begonia platanifolia (another good sized begonia) This same pot the winter before had mildew so bad that I lost some stems and almost all the leaves before I did anything to remedy the situation. Now if I had a big GH like at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, we could grow them to 12 to 14 feet tall.