Aloe maculata (soap aloe, also called zebra aloe; long sold as Aloe saponaria) is a clumping, stemless succulent from southern Africa with broad, triangular leaves marked by distinctive "H-shaped" pale spots. It is grown for its flat-topped racemes of tubular flowers in shades of orange-red to coral and yellow, held on tall branched stalks that draw sunbirds, bees, and other insects. A tough, drought- and salt-tolerant groundcover that spreads by suckers, it suits rock gardens, dry borders, coastal plantings, and containers in warm climates. It is frost-tender: the RHS rates it H1C (roughly USDA 9b-11), so leaves are damaged below freezing and it needs protection or indoor wintering where frosts occur. The leaf gel is used traditionally for skin and other ailments, but the plant is recorded as harmful if eaten (handle with care; seeds are reputedly poisonous), so treat it as not for casual consumption around people and pets.

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 (5°C) 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 5 C (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.

David viburnum is a compact, mound-forming evergreen shrub native to western China (its provenance usually given as the Sichuan / Yunnan region), grown for its bold, deeply three-veined glossy leaves, small clusters of white flowers in late spring, and — when fruiting — striking oval drupes in a distinctive metallic turquoise-blue. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit and suits the front of borders, shaded corners, and containers in cool-temperate to mild climates. The honest catch is a fundamental one: it is dioecious, so you must plant at least one male and one female together to get the celebrated blue fruit — a single plant in isolation will never berry, and many gardeners discover this only after years of waiting.

The jade plant is a long-lived succulent houseplant with thick, woody, branching stems and plump, glossy, jade-green oval leaves that flush red at the edges in bright light — the familiar "money plant" or "lucky plant". POWO (Kew) places it native to South Africa; it is grown worldwide in pots as one of the easiest and most forgiving of indoor succulents. RHS gives Crassula ovata the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) as an easy succulent houseplant for bright light and rates it frost-tender (H1C / H2). Honesty matters with this plant: it is killed far more often by kindness than by neglect — OVERWATERING and too little light cause soft, leggy, rot-prone growth, so let the soil dry out completely between waterings. It is TOXIC to cats and dogs (chewed leaves cause vomiting and lethargy). Mature plants can be trained as an indoor bonsai-like specimen and may, with age and a cool bright rest, bloom in clusters of small white-pink star flowers.

Japanese box is a compact, dense evergreen shrub long cultivated in Japan (where it was first described from cultivated plants of uncertain wild origin) with truly wild populations known from Taiwan, used for centuries for topiary, low hedging, and bonsai. Its fine-textured small leaves and naturally tidy habit make it one of the most widely planted formal garden shrubs in temperate regions, and the 'Faulkner' cultivar holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The honest catch is a double threat: all parts contain steroidal alkaloids (cyclobuxine) and are toxic to humans and livestock, and the species is under sustained pressure from box blight (Calonectria pseudonaviculata) and the box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis), with B. microphylla documented as more susceptible than the common European B. sempervirens, so an established hedge can be defoliated within weeks.