For me, there are 2 plants which strangely remind me of my bayside Melbourne home. The Tree Dahlia is not such a great memory, but it is a good family joke. I tried to impress my father with my plant knowledge by trimming back all the new shoots in spring as he had done at the end of winter. The poor plant never recovered.

The other plant which always brings up better memories of my childhood is Haworthia. In a garden generally devoid of cacti and succulents, there was one sandy area which always had clusters of a couple of species of this tough little plant.

Originating from Southern Africa, most Haworthia form small clumping rosettes ranging from 3cm to about 30 cm wide and generally not much higher.

They love well drained soil with plenty of water during the summer but prefer to be dry during the winter. Here in South East Queensland, as in Melbourne, my plants never get more water than falls out of the sky (true, a lot falls out of the sky here). Compared to many succulents, they can handle cool conditions and some shade. My Dad had some growing against the south wall of his house. Afternoon summer sun will give the leaves a bronze, almost sunburnt colour and they will die off prematurely.

There are roughly 60 species of Haworthia. They all flower in summer with small white or yellow flowers on a slender stems. Some have firm, leathery leaves and others are fleshy and translucent, a bit like Aloe plants and most have spotted or striped variegations.

Haworthia can be propagated by seed, though pups or offsets, easily removed from the parent plant are by far the easiest way to promote a species.

They love to fill up a pot, lasting for years in the same pot if the conditions are right. Terracotta is great as it dries out well or deep plastic pots with a high percentage of river sand in the potting mix will allow for ideal drainage.

A few offsets from my Melbourne home are flourishing in pots up here, better than some of the other plants I thought I could bring up 13 years ago.

On the positive side, many years later I tracked down another Tree Dahlia for my father, which he still has growing in the garden.