Flaming kalanchoe

Hippeastrum x hybridum is a complex garden hybrid derived from six or more wild Hippeastrum species native to tropical and subtropical South America, developed through intensive breeding since the late 18th century and now the dominant "amaryllis" sold worldwide as a holiday bulb. It produces spectacular trumpet-shaped flowers - 5 to 8 inches across - on stout leafless scapes in red, pink, white, orange, salmon, or bicolour, making it one of the most dramatic winter-flowering houseplants available. The honest catch is toxicity: the entire plant, especially the bulb, contains lycorine and related alkaloids at concentrations that cause vomiting, salivation, tremors, and hypotension in pets and children, so it must be placed out of reach and handled with care.

Cushion haworthia is a tiny, choice, clump-forming succulent whose plump, soft, blue-green leaves end in translucent "windows" - in the wild the plant pulls itself down into the soil and lets light reach its inner tissues through these clear leaf tips, an adaptation to the bright, dry Karoo light. POWO (Kew) places it native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa (Cape Provinces). It is a jewel for a pot or a windowsill rather than a garden plant. Unusually for this group of succulents, it prefers BRIGHT INDIRECT light or part shade rather than harsh full sun, which scorches and reddens it; give it sharp drainage and water sparingly during growth, far less in winter. OVERWATERING - and cold, wet soil - is the main way it dies, and it is FROST-TENDER (RHS rates it tender, H1c-H2), so almost everywhere it is grown as a houseplant or in a frost-free greenhouse. It is grown for its jewel-like translucent foliage, not as a food plant, and it rarely flowers in cultivation.

Veltheimia bracteata, the forest lily, is a winter-growing bulbous perennial from the forest margins and coastal scrub of South Africa's Eastern Cape, grown for its glossy rosette of wavy-edged strap leaves and a tall, dense raceme of pendent tubular flowers in shades of pink to rose, blooming in late winter through spring when little else is in flower. It is frost-tender (RHS H2): it tolerates cool conditions but not freezing, so outside roughly USDA zone 9b-11 it is grown as a container or conservatory bulb, dormant and dry through summer. It thrives in semi-shade with humus-rich, well-drained soil and makes an excellent pot specimen. The bird-pollinated flowers attract sunbirds. As a member of Asparagaceae (subfamily Scilloideae), it is grown for ornament only; the bulb is toxic and must not be eaten. It is well-behaved and not reported as invasive.

Gasteria bicolor is a slow-growing, tongue-leaved succulent native to the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where it grows on rocky slopes and outcrops in thicket vegetation around Port Elizabeth (a summer-rainfall region). Its mottled, strap-shaped leaves and arching racemes of curved, stomach-shaped pink-to-orange flowers make it a forgiving container plant for warm, frost-free settings, and it tolerates light shade better than most succulents - a useful trait for brighter indoor positions. The honest catch is its tenderness: it is damaged below about 41°F and cannot survive frost, so gardeners outside USDA zones 9b-11 must overwinter it indoors. It is a container-and-houseplant plant, not a garden perennial in most of the world.

Tiger aloe (Gonialoe variegata, syn. Aloe variegata) is a compact, evergreen succulent native to the arid Karoo region of South Africa and Namibia, where it grows in semi-shaded rock crevices with sharp-draining sandy or gravelly soil. In gardens it excels as a bold container specimen or focal-point succulent, prized for its spirally arranged dark-green leaves banded with irregular white spots and its tall orange flower spikes that sunbirds mob in the wild. The honest catch is frost-tenderness: this plant cannot survive temperatures below 41°F and must be overwintered under glass in all but the warmest frost-free climates - and every part of the plant is toxic to cats, dogs, and livestock via anthraquinone glycosides in the latex layer.

Zebra haworthia (trade name Haworthia fasciata; now correctly Haworthiopsis fasciata) is a tiny, rosette-forming succulent endemic to the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where it grows in acidic fynbos sands near Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage - listed Near Threatened on the SANBI Red List. It is one of the most widely sold succulents in the world: compact, slow-growing, forgiving of low water, and ASPCA-listed non-toxic to pets. The honest catch is twofold: it is frost-tender (barely tolerates a degree or two of frost, USDA zones 9b-11 outdoors), so almost everywhere it is a houseplant or temporary patio pot; and true H. fasciata is genuinely rare in cultivation - most plants sold under this name (and most images, including ours) are actually the closely related H. attenuata, which carries white tubercles on BOTH leaf surfaces rather than the smooth inner surface of the true species.