I know certain plants like certain environments.

I also heard on a podcast (Wish I remembered which one) someone talking about how when a seed is germinating it does something like turning on/off certain traits depending on the soil and what it needs to survive. Which is why moving a plant from poor soil to good soil, it usually thrives, but the opposite usually doesn't work.

I found it fascinating that even for plants, an appropriate amount of adversity builds strength and resilience, however too much and it gets overwhelmed or too little and it can't handle any that does arise.