Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Japanese Black Pine
Japanese Black Pine is a rugged coastal conifer with dark bark, stiff needles, and a picturesque irregular form. It is a classic bonsai and ornamental tree highly tolerant of salt and wind.
tree
Mullein
Mullein is a striking biennial that forms a rosette of soft, woolly leaves the first year and a towering yellow flower spike the second. It is a classic wildflower herb of dry, open ground.
herb
Horseweed
Horseweed is a tall, weedy native annual with a single bristly stalk topped by clouds of tiny flowers; it is a prolific seeder and one of the first weeds to evolve widespread herbicide resistance.
herb
Orchid
The moth orchid is the most popular indoor orchid, prized for arching sprays of long-lasting blooms. Despite a delicate look, it is one of the easiest orchids to grow at home.
houseplant
Inch Plant
A fast-growing trailing plant with shimmery purple-and-silver striped leaves. It roots and spreads quickly, making it a vigorous, colorful houseplant.
houseplant
Mayapple
A woodland wildflower forming colonies of umbrella-like leaves, with a single white flower hidden beneath that ripens into a yellow fruit.
flower
Japanese Aucuba
Japanese aucuba is a shade-loving evergreen shrub with bold, glossy leaves, often speckled gold, earning it the name gold dust plant. It brings light and color to dark, difficult corners.
shrub
Monkey Flower
A cheerful moisture-loving wildflower with snapdragon-like blooms, often spotted, whose grinning face inspired the common name monkey flower.
flower
Jabuticaba
A slow-growing Brazilian tree remarkable for producing its grape-like purple-black fruit directly on the trunk and main branches (cauliflory).
tree
Organ Pipe Cactus
A large columnar desert cactus that grows many tall ribbed stems from near its base, resembling the pipes of an organ. It is a signature plant of the Sonoran Desert.
succulent
Illawarra Flame Tree
The Illawarra flame tree is a striking Australian native that sheds its leaves and covers itself in masses of brilliant scarlet bell-shaped flowers in early summer. It is one of Australia's most spectacular flowering trees.
tree
Pacific Silver Fir
Pacific Silver Fir is a shade-tolerant Northwest fir with dense, lush foliage that is glossy green above and silvery-white beneath.
tree
Iron Cross Begonia
The iron cross begonia is a distinctive rhizomatous begonia grown for its puckered, bright green leaves marked with a bold dark brown cross-shaped pattern resembling an iron cross emblem.
houseplant
Nasturtium
Nasturtiums are easygoing annuals with round, lily-pad leaves and bright spurred flowers in fiery reds, oranges, and yellows. They are a cheerful, low-fuss choice for beds, baskets, and borders.
herb
Hydrangea Tree
The hydrangea tree is a panicle hydrangea trained to a single trunk, topped with large cone-shaped clusters of white flowers that age to pink in late summer. It is the hardiest and most sun-tolerant of the hydrangeas.
shrub
New England Aster
A robust native perennial that crowns the fall garden with masses of purple, daisy-like flowers around golden centers. It is a magnet for late-season bees and migrating monarch butterflies.
flower
Gazania
A sun-loving, drought-tolerant South African plant with large, daisy-like flowers in brilliant orange, yellow, red, pink and cream, often boldly striped. The blooms open in bright sun and close in shade or cloudy weather.
flower
Ohio Buckeye
A medium native tree with palmate compound leaves, spiny husks holding glossy brown 'buckeye' seeds, and foliage that smells unpleasant when crushed.
tree
Gotu Kola
A low, creeping wetland herb with round, scalloped leaves, grown as a fast-spreading, moisture-loving ground cover.
herb
Painted Daisy
Painted daisy is a hardy perennial bearing cheerful daisy flowers in pink, red, and white with golden centers over fern-like foliage. Its flowers are the natural source of the insecticide pyrethrum.
flower
Friendship Plant
The Friendship Plant is a low-growing Pilea with deeply quilted, bronze-green leaves. It earns its name from how easily it propagates and is shared between gardeners.
houseplant
Oregon Grape
Oregon grape is a hardy evergreen shrub with spiny, holly-like leaves, bright yellow spring flowers and clusters of blue berries. It is the state flower of Oregon and a tough plant for shade.
shrub
Golden Chain Tree
A small deciduous tree that drips with long, hanging chains of brilliant yellow pea-like flowers in late spring.
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
Gardenia
Gardenias are evergreen shrubs famous for their glossy foliage and intensely fragrant, waxy white flowers. They are rewarding but demanding, requiring acidic soil, humidity, and steady warmth.
shrub
Nettle
A vigorous perennial herb famous for the stinging hairs on its leaves and stems. It thrives in rich, damp soils across temperate regions.
herb
Ghost Plant
The ghost plant is a hardy rosette succulent with pearly, pastel leaves that shift from grey-blue to pinkish or yellow depending on light. It is fast-growing, trailing, and extremely easy to propagate.
succulent
Ninebark
A rugged North American deciduous shrub named for its peeling, layered bark. Modern cultivars offer striking burgundy, gold, or copper foliage plus clusters of white-to-pink spring flowers.
shrub
Great Blue Lobelia
A native North American perennial producing tall spikes of vivid blue, two-lipped flowers in late summer. It is the blue counterpart to the red cardinal flower and loves moist ground.
flower
Melampodium
Melampodium, or butter daisy, is a tough, heat-loving annual that forms neat mounds covered in small golden-yellow daisies all summer. It thrives in hot, humid conditions and is virtually maintenance-free.
flower
Ginkgo Biloba
Ginkgo biloba is a unique 'living fossil' tree with distinctive fan-shaped leaves that turn brilliant gold in autumn. Extremely tough and long-lived, it is widely planted as a resilient street tree.
tree
Mimosa Tree
A fast-growing ornamental tree with feathery fern-like leaves and fluffy pink powderpuff flowers, widely planted but invasive across the southern United States.
tree
Foxtail Pine
Foxtail Pine is a long-lived, high-elevation pine of California, named for its dense bottlebrush-like foliage. A close relative of the bristlecone pines, it survives harsh alpine conditions for over a thousand years.
tree
Moonflower
A fast-growing tropical vine whose large, fragrant white flowers unfurl at dusk and bloom through the night, closing by morning. Related to morning glory, it is grown on trellises for evening fragrance and night-garden drama.
flower
Freesia
Freesia is a South African bulb prized for its arching sprays of richly perfumed, funnel-shaped flowers in a rainbow of colors, popular as a cut flower.
flower
Nerve Plant
The nerve plant is a low, spreading tropical houseplant grown for its small leaves laced with bright white, pink, or red veins. It loves humidity and is a favorite for terrariums.
houseplant
Goldfish Plant
The goldfish plant is a tropical trailing houseplant named for its bright orange, pouched flowers that look like leaping goldfish among glossy dark green leaves.
houseplant
Meyer Lemon
A compact, productive citrus tree thought to be a cross between a lemon and a mandarin or orange, with thin, fragrant skin and rounder fruit than a standard lemon.
tree
Goldenseal
A shade-loving woodland perennial with a brilliant yellow root, now threatened by overharvesting from the wild. It is a sensitive plant requiring rich, moist forest conditions.
herb
Musk Thistle
Musk thistle is a spiny biennial weed with large, nodding rose-purple flower heads; native to Eurasia, it is an aggressive invader of pastures and rangelands across North America.
flower
Geranium
The familiar bedding "geranium" is actually a Pelargonium, a drought-tolerant flowering plant with rounded leaves and bold clusters of red, pink, or white blooms. True Geranium species (cranesbills) are separate hardy perennials.
flower
Monkey Puzzle Tree
The monkey puzzle is a striking evergreen conifer from the Andes with stiff, spiral-arranged spiky leaves and a distinctive symmetrical, dome-topped silhouette. It is a living fossil, virtually unchanged for millions of years, and can live over a thousand years.
tree
Garlic Mustard
Garlic mustard is an aggressive biennial herb with garlic-scented leaves and small white flowers, and one of North America's most damaging invasive plants.
herb
Million Bells
A trailing relative of the petunia, million bells smothers itself in small bell-shaped flowers all season and needs no deadheading.
flower
Golden Shower Tree
The golden shower tree is a tropical flowering tree that drapes itself in long, hanging chains of brilliant golden-yellow blossoms in summer. It is the national tree and flower of Thailand and a beloved ornamental across the tropics.
tree
Magnolia
Magnolias are ancient flowering trees and shrubs prized for their large, fragrant, cup- or star-shaped blooms. They range from evergreen Southern magnolias to deciduous spring-flowering types.
tree
Fraser Fir
A high-elevation Appalachian evergreen and a favorite premium Christmas tree, with fragrant, silvery-backed needles and excellent needle retention.
tree
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle is a striking, spiny thistle with glossy white-marbled leaves and large purple flower heads. Robust and self-seeding, it can become a weed in warm climates.
herb