Kumara haemanthifolia grows at high altitudes of between 500 m and 1700 m where, besides the high winter rainfall, they further benefit from mist and clouds that drift in during moderate to strong south-easterly winds that are associated with summer conditions in the Cape mountains. This, together with southern or south-eastern aspects, the moist but scanty peaty soils and the often nearly vertical situation, constitute an ideal habitat that enables this aloe to thrive under relatively protected conditions.

To a degree it is these conditions that have contributed to the soft-bodied and defenceless appearance of the plants, whereas other aloes that grow in arid, open, sunny and easily accessible localities have developed either thorns as armour or bitter sap to discourage herbivory. Some arid aloes even employ the protection of pigments that act as sunscreen in the leaves giving the plants a reddish appearance during the hot and dry summers. In the case of Kumara haemanthifolia the leaves do not exude a bitter sap and there is no protective armour but the cliff habitat has become the protection of the plants. However, the young flowers, leaves and fruits are occasionally eaten by baboons that are amongst a handful of creatures that can access the plants with relative ease. The long-tubular and slightly club-shaped flowers produce nectar which is offered as a reward to pollinators such as sugar birds and winged and crawling insects.

After fertilization, the fruits, which are capsules, swell out and grow quickly, later becoming woody, before splitting into 3 equal parts in summer to release the black, slightly winged seeds which are dispersed by the wind. Since the plants occur on cliffs, ledges and steep slopes, the seeds are easily carried on the slightest of breezes onto nearby slopes either below, adjacent or above the parent plants. Consequently, recruitment of seedlings is very successful in its natural habitat.