Thanks for your question. Plants, just like animals, have "preferences" about where they would like to live. Given a choice, each species of plant would choose conditions that they were best suited for. For example, a cactus survives well in very dry areas like deserts, but it would not survive in the Arctic even though it is a dry place too. A cactus would be too cold in this environment and it would freeze.

Because plants can't get up and move (their pollen or seeds get scattered by wind, other animals, etc.) they often have to cope with conditions where they are located or they will not survive. Most plants prefer to live where they have enough water, nutrients for growth and sunlight for photosynthesis (to produce energy). There are always exceptions and some plants can survive in very extreme conditions!

Plants prefer to live anywhere that they can have adequate light for photosynthesis and water. Different plants require different amounts of each so one plant that is happy in a swamp would not survive in the desert.