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Succulents are a large, diverse group and what counts is somewhat debatable. Debatable succulents include halophytes (plants that grow in salt marshes), bulbs (many people consider a few bulbs such as Bowia and Heamanthus to be succulents), Welwitchia (a weird cone baring plant all the other generally accepted succulents are flowering plants) and even some cacti. Even if you exclude all these, you're left with a huge range: rain forest epiphytes (e.g. Hoya and Schlumbergera), alpines from the mountains of Europe, cacti from Canada and Patagonia, not to mention all those succulents from deserts and semi-deserts in fairly warm to very hot climates.

For the purposes of this article, I'll just consider the warmer climate desert plants that are grown as houseplants in cooler climates. Even this group is very varied and sometimes plants with very different cultural requirements are included in the same genus (e.g. Euphorbia and Mammillaria). (Most the succulent bulbs will grow well if treated like this.)

Light: Most plants (including succulents) are basically solar powered and succulents like more light than most. They'll do best in a greenhouse or south-facing window (north-facing in the southern hemisphere). You can also use artificial lights but cacti won't flower under fluorescent tubes (other succulents will, I don't know why). Some people put succulents outside in summer. Succulents can be burnt by too much light and heat but this rather depends on the type and where you live. Also plants can aclimatetize to some extent.

Heat: Many succulents will tolerate (if not prefer) to have a cool winter period when they only have protection from frost (many will tolerate some frost). However there are others that need to be kept above 10 degrees C. If you have a greenhouse, you may like to concentrate on the kinds that tolerate cooler conditions (they include most the small round cacti that have nice flowers, some large cacti, most Opuntias, most Crassulaceae, Aloes, Agaves, some Euphorbias and all Messembrianthemums). If you're growing your succulents somewhere that stays hot all the time, you should stick to the more tropical kinds: Melocactus, many large cacti, some Euphorbias, stapeliads, Kalanchoes, Pachypodiums etc. although you can probably get away with some of the more tolerant types like Aloes.

Water: This is complicated. Most books advice to water about once a week from spring to fall and not all in the winter. This is fine if you're keeping them cool in the winter,

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