Plant Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.

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Scotch Pine

Scotch Pine is a widespread evergreen conifer known for its distinctive orange-red upper bark and blue-green twisted needles. It is one of the most common Christmas trees and a major timber species.

tree

Saucer Magnolia

A deciduous magnolia famous for large, goblet-shaped pink-and-white blooms that open on bare branches in early spring. It is one of the most widely planted flowering trees in temperate gardens.

tree

Monterey Cypress

Monterey Cypress is a wind-sculpted evergreen conifer native to a tiny stretch of the California coast, famous for the gnarled trees of the Monterey Peninsula. It is widely planted for hedging and shelter in mild climates.

tree

Bloodgood Japanese Maple

Bloodgood is the classic deep-red Japanese maple, holding its dark burgundy-purple leaf color through summer better than most cultivars before turning crimson in fall. It is an elegant upright specimen tree.

tree

Tamarack

Tamarack is a hardy North American deciduous conifer of cold bogs and wetlands, turning glowing gold each autumn before shedding its soft needles. It is one of the most cold-tolerant trees in North America.

tree

Honey Locust

Honey locust is a fast-growing deciduous tree with fine, fern-like compound leaves casting light dappled shade; wild forms have fierce branching thorns and long twisted seed pods, but thornless cultivars dominate landscaping.

tree

Southern Live Oak

Southern Live Oak is a massive, spreading evergreen oak of the American Deep South, famous for its broad canopy draped in Spanish moss. It is among the longest-lived and most iconic trees of the region.

tree

Red Maple

Red maple is one of North America's most widespread and adaptable trees, prized for its brilliant scarlet fall color and early red flowers. It thrives in a remarkable range of soils, from swamps to dry ridges.

tree

Juniper

A tough, evergreen coniferous shrub (some species small trees) with needle-like or scale-like foliage and blue berry-like cones. Junipers range from low groundcovers to upright forms and thrive in poor, dry soils.

shrub

Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a hardy succulent with thick, fleshy leaves arranged in a rosette and filled with a clear inner gel. It is easy to grow on a sunny windowsill and needs very little water.

succulent

Lavender

An aromatic Mediterranean shrub-herb grown for its fragrant purple flower spikes and silvery foliage. Lavender thrives on sun, lean soil, and minimal water.

herb

Hardy Geranium

Hardy geranium, or cranesbill, is a tough, long-lived perennial that forms spreading mounds of deeply lobed leaves covered in saucer-shaped flowers. Unlike the tender bedding "geraniums" (Pelargonium), these true geraniums are cold-hardy and low-maintenance.

flower

Cardamom

Cardamom is a tropical, shade-loving relative of ginger grown for its aromatic seed pods. A spice plant, it needs warmth, humidity and patience.

herb

Lily

True lilies are summer-blooming bulbs with large, often fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers on tall stems. They are easy garden perennials prized in borders and as cut flowers.

flower

Jasmine

A climbing shrub famous for intensely fragrant, star-shaped white flowers that perfume summer evenings. Common jasmine is vigorous and grown on trellises and walls.

shrub

Grape Ivy

Grape Ivy is a vigorous climbing or trailing vine with glossy, toothed leaves resembling grapevine foliage. Tolerant of lower light and easy to grow, it's a classic for hanging baskets and trellises.

houseplant

Painted Dropwing

Important note: the Painted Dropwing (also called the violet dropwing) is not a plant but a dragonfly, Trithemis annulata. Mature males are a striking violet-pink with red-veined wings, often seen perched at the edges of warm ponds and streams.

flower

Cholla Cactus

A group of shrubby to treelike desert cacti with cylindrical, jointed segments and barbed spines that detach easily. Iconic plants of the American Southwest deserts.

succulent

Engelmann Spruce

Engelmann Spruce is a tall, narrow conifer of high western mountains, often forming dense subalpine forests near treeline. Its soft, resonant wood is prized for musical instrument soundboards.

tree

Sago Palm

An ancient, palm-like cycad with a stout trunk and a symmetrical crown of stiff, feathery dark-green fronds. Despite the name it is not a true palm.

shrub

Ponytail Palm

Not a true palm but a succulent with a swollen, water-storing trunk and a fountain of long, curly leaves. Its bulbous base gives it the nickname elephant's foot.

succulent

Bachelor's Button

Bachelor's button, or cornflower, is an easy cottage-garden annual famous for its intense true-blue, fringed flowers that are excellent for cutting.

flower

Silver Pothos

Silver pothos is a trailing tropical vine prized for its thick, heart-shaped leaves splashed with shimmering silvery markings, despite not being a true pothos.

houseplant

Asparagus Fern

The asparagus fern is not a true fern but a relative of garden asparagus, grown for its soft, feathery sprays of bright green needle-like foliage. It is easy and fast-growing.

houseplant