Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Marigold
A cheerful, easy annual with pompom-like flowers in gold, orange, and red, and pungent foliage. Marigolds bloom all season and are popular for borders and companion planting.
flower
Old Man Cactus
A columnar cactus famously cloaked in long, shaggy white hairs that resemble an old man's beard. The wool shields the plant from sun and cold while hiding sharp spines beneath.
succulent
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
Diascia
Diascia, or twinspur, is a low, free-flowering plant covered in delicate coral, pink, or apricot blooms. It is a popular cool-season filler for containers, baskets, and edging.
flower
Black Walnut
A large, valuable native hardwood prized for its rich, dark timber. Its roots release juglone, a compound that inhibits the growth of many nearby plants.
tree
Poison Sumac
Poison sumac is a wetland shrub or small tree of eastern North America, distinguished from harmless sumacs by its smooth-edged leaflets and drooping pale berries.
shrub
Bear's Paw
Bear's paw is a fuzzy succulent named for its plump, fleshy leaves tipped with tooth-like 'claws.' The chubby, hairy leaves and reddish tips give it a paw-like, animal appearance.
succulent
Feverfew
Feverfew is a bushy, aromatic herb covered in small white daisy flowers with yellow centers. It is a cheerful, easy cottage-garden plant with feathery, citrus-scented foliage.
herb
Calathea Triostar
A vivid prayer plant relative with variegated leaves splashed in cream, green, and pink, and dramatic deep-magenta undersides. Like other Marantaceae, its leaves fold up at night.
houseplant
Wood Betony
Wood betony is a clump-forming perennial herb with crinkled, scalloped leaves and spikes of reddish-purple flowers beloved by bees. It was a widely grown garden plant in medieval Europe.
herb
Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle is a tall perennial herb covered in tiny hollow hairs that release an irritating fluid on contact, producing a brief stinging sensation. It has a long history as a fiber and dye plant.
herb
Powder Puff Cactus
A clustering pincushion cactus wrapped in silky white hairs, with hooked central spines hidden beneath. Rings of small creamy or pink flowers appear readily, even on young plants.
succulent
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
Fireweed
A tall, magenta-flowered perennial famous for blanketing burned and disturbed land, which gives it its name. Its spires of pink-purple flowers make it both a pioneer species and a showy garden plant.
flower
Comfrey
Comfrey is a vigorous, deep-rooted perennial famous as a garden fertilizer. Its rough leaves and bell-shaped flowers grow back fast, making it a favorite for nutrient-rich liquid plant feeds.
herb
Spirea
A versatile, easy-care deciduous shrub grown for clusters of pink or white flowers and often colorful foliage. Compact and reliable, spirea suits borders, mass plantings and low informal hedges.
shrub
Miracle Fruit
A slow-growing evergreen shrub from West Africa bearing small, bright red oval berries. It demands acidic soil, warmth, and humidity, making it a challenging container plant outside the tropics.
shrub
Milkweed
Milkweed is a hardy native perennial with fragrant flower clusters and milky sap, best known as the essential host plant for monarch butterflies. Its seed pods release silk-tufted seeds in fall.
flower
Blue Chalksticks
Blue chalksticks is a spreading ground-cover succulent with slender, upright, powdery blue-green finger-like leaves. Its cool blue color and low, mounding habit make it a popular landscape and container plant.
succulent
Star Cactus
A small, flattened, spineless cactus divided into neat segments that resemble a star or sand dollar, dotted with white woolly flecks. It bears yellow flowers with red centers and is a coveted collector's plant.
succulent
Petunia
Petunias are prolific, trumpet-shaped bedding flowers prized for nonstop summer color in containers, hanging baskets, and borders. Most garden plants are hybrids derived from South American Petunia species.
flowerPainted 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
Olive Tree
The olive is a long-lived evergreen Mediterranean tree, a fruiting tree cultivated for thousands of years. Gnarled, silvery and remarkably drought-hardy, it is also a popular ornamental and container plant.
tree
Lemon Myrtle
Lemon myrtle is an Australian rainforest tree whose glossy leaves carry one of the most intense natural lemon fragrances of any plant, driven by very high citral content. It is grown as an aromatic ornamental.
tree