Thank you for the mention, Baja. The weather here is similar to Houston, from what I see on weather reports.
Succulent plants I've had for a long time and are hardy enough to have been outside for years and remain "evergreen", at least when protected from direct rain in a mini garden (see mini garden forum for pics of the entire gardens over the yrs.) An especially hard winter could be a disaster if my only copies of any of these are outside @ the time. And since they've stayed alive for years, they must at least tolerate humidity, dew, and nighttime lows well above 70 for months:
Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)
Ghost Plant (XGraptosedum 'Ghosty')
Silver Squill (Ledebouria socialis)
Living Stones (Lithops)
Striped Inch Plant (Callisia gentlei var. elegans)
Sedeveria (XSedeveria Sorrentoโข) (and probably other/most Sedeverias)
Sedum (Sedum kimnachii)
Graptosedum (XGraptosedum)
Prickly Pears (Opuntia)
Other hardy plants that I use as part of the ground landscaping. Most of these go dormant over winter, losing the above-ground parts and re-growing from the roots in spring, and I bring at least a few of each inside for winter as backup. Never know which winter is going to be the unusually rough one:
Florist Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana)
Scarlet Kleinia (Kleinia fulgens)
Devil's Backbone (Euphorbia tithymaloides)
Shrubby Stonecrop (Sedum dendroideum subsp. praealtum)
Plants that I've always brought inside for winter, outside for summer, and have had for years, that grow well:
Lavender Steps (Senecio crassissimus)
Tiger Tooth Aloe (Aloe juvenna)
Pencil Tree (Euphorbia tirucalli)
Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera truncata)
All Kalanchoes I've had except hildebrandtii and tomentosa, which are in the next category below.
3-4 species of Rhipsalis, including I think baccifera & teres, but they never bloom.
Red Log (Peperomia verticillata)
Blue Senecio (Curio talinoides)
Euphorbia (Euphorbia hypericifolia Diamond Frostยฎ) (I noticed in 1 spot where I put a cutting that it has survived in the ground for the past few yrs, but it is the only one of a larger group that did not survive.)
Wingpod Purslane (Portulaca umbraticola)
Aloe Vera (Aloe vera)
Fianarantsoa Aloe (Aloe bellatula)
Haworthiopsis attenuata var. radula
Gasteria 'Little Warty'
Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milii)
Various Echeverias.
Plants that I've always brought inside for winter, outside for summer, and have had for years, that are more just stayin' alive but don't seem to grow much. Most of this group has not been repotted for years & these plants are still in old store-bought soil of some type, likely "palm" soil but I don't remember for each pot by now:
Easter Cactus (Hatiora gaertneri)
Starfish Cactus (Ceropegia grandiflora)
Flapjacks (Kalanchoe luciae)
Trailing Jade (Kleinia petraea)
Watch Chain Plant (Crassula muscosa) (Occasional cutting in mini garden will survive, but they tend to die over summer.)
Lifesaver Plant (Ceropegia zebrina subsp. zebrina)
Baby Burro's Tail (Sedum burrito)
Jelly Bean (Sedum x rubrotinctum)
Baby Sunrose (Mesembryanthemum cordifolium 'Variegata')
Aeoniums (Aeonium)
Arizona Ruby Rainbow Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus rigidissimus subsp. rubispinus) (Starting to wonder if I should find a spot for this to stay outside all year...?)
Echeveria (Echeveria runyonii 'Topsy Turvy')
As far as soil goes, one mini garden has store-bought, "palm" soil, I think. The other has ground dirt.
I've moved most of my non-mini-garden plants over the past few yrs to unglazed clay pots with ground dirt. Not just any dirt, like out in a mowed area, but the better dirt where flower beds are, and from under a brush pile where we put yard trimmings that have leaves until the leaves disappear, then burn the big limbs and let the small twigs slowly decompose. Pretty good dirt under there, and I can replace it as often as I want for free.
It's usually upsetting to some people when I say things like this about ground dirt, but please know, I'm not recommending, just saying what I do. You'll have to do your own experiments to see what works best for you. As a long time serial overwaterer of plants in general, this has helped me tremendously, especially for succulents that bake-dry almost daily. Some might not be growing much, but staying alive is a great step in the right direction after killing so many succulents when I first started buying them and trying to keep them alive in the "store soil" in the original pot or after any kind of repot.
I keep saying "dirt" but I mean gardened-soil. For those who are also outdoor gardeners, you'll know what I mean by the difference between the lifeless stuff baking in the sun in which grass is struggling to grow, vs. the much darker, improved "soil" in a cultivated spot where gardening/mulching/composting has been occurring for at least a few yrs. I have a LOT of potted plants, but this is only because they can't stay alive in the ground outside. If all plants could do that, I'd have maybe a couple hanging pots & that would be all. My true love is ground gardening, but unfortunately or otherwise, I've also fallen in love with so many plants that can't survive out there all year. If you have even a glancing interest in soil microbiology or think you might if you had more plain-language info, this talk by Dr. Elaine Ingham is, IMVHO, the gold standard for a good place to start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
