Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
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
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
Lemon Cypress
Lemon Cypress is a bright chartreuse-yellow cultivar of Monterey Cypress whose foliage smells of lemon when brushed. It is popular as a potted topiary and small landscape conifer.
tree
Kwanzan Cherry
A flowering cherry prized for its showy, fully double, deep-pink pompom blossoms in mid-spring. Its upright vase shape and dense blooms make it a popular street and lawn tree.
tree
Lilac Tree
The Japanese lilac tree is the tree-form member of the lilac family, producing huge creamy-white fragrant flower plumes in early summer. It is a tough, compact street and lawn tree.
tree
Liquidambar
A large deciduous shade tree known for its star-shaped leaves that blaze red, purple, and orange in autumn, and its spiky round seed balls. It is a classic American street and park tree.
tree
Kentia Palm
The kentia palm is an elegant, slow-growing feather palm from Australia's Lord Howe Island, famed since Victorian times as one of the most durable and graceful indoor palms.
houseplant
Jimsonweed
Jimsonweed is a rank-smelling nightshade with large white-to-purple trumpet flowers and spiny seed pods, and one of the most distinctive weeds of North America.
herb
Fennel
Fennel is an aromatic, feathery herb grown in gardens for its finely divided foliage and airy yellow flower heads; the Florence type forms a swollen bulb at the base of the leaves.
herb
English Oak
English oak is the iconic, long-lived oak of Europe, with short-stalked lobed leaves and acorns on long stalks. A symbol of strength, it can live for centuries and supports vast biodiversity.
tree
Desert Rose
The desert rose is a striking caudex succulent with a swollen trunk and clusters of showy, trumpet-shaped pink to red flowers. It is widely grown as a bonsai-like ornamental.
succulent
Coleus
Coleus is a vibrant foliage plant grown for its endlessly varied leaves in shades of red, pink, green, purple, and gold. Easy to grow and propagate, it is a favorite for containers and shady beds.
houseplant
Bouncing Bet
A vigorous old-fashioned perennial with clusters of fragrant pink flowers whose roots and leaves lather like soap, long used as a natural cleanser for textiles.
herb
Bamboo Palm
The Bamboo Palm is a clumping indoor palm with slender, cane-like green stems and feathery fronds. It tolerates low light and is a popular choice for adding tropical height.
houseplant
Balsam Fir
A fragrant northern evergreen with flat, soft needles and resin-blistered bark, beloved as a Christmas tree for its classic spire shape and lasting pine scent.
tree
Bearberry
A hardy, mat-forming evergreen groundcover shrub of cold northern regions, with glossy leaves, pink bell flowers, and red berries favored by bears and birds.
shrub
Sweet Corn
Sweet corn is a tender annual grass and a variety of maize grown as a warm-season garden crop. It forms a tall, single stalk topped by a feathery tassel, with husk-wrapped ears lower down.
grass
Skimmia
Skimmia is a compact, shade-loving evergreen shrub valued for fragrant spring flowers, ornamental red winter berries, and showy red flower buds that decorate the plant all winter.
shrub
Sweet Potato
Sweet potato is a warm-season trailing vine grown as a crop for its swollen storage roots. Unrelated to the common potato, it belongs to the morning glory family and thrives in long, hot summers.
herb
Rubber Plant
A popular indoor tree with large, thick, glossy leaves that can grow tall and statuesque indoors. Burgundy and variegated cultivars add dramatic color to the classic deep-green form.
houseplant
Tulip Tree
One of the tallest eastern hardwoods, named for its showy tulip-shaped greenish-orange flowers and uniquely four-lobed leaves. A fast-growing member of the magnolia family.
tree
Wild Columbine
Wild columbine is a graceful native woodland wildflower with nodding red-and-yellow flowers whose backward-pointing spurs hold nectar prized by hummingbirds.
flower
St. John's Wort
St. John's wort is a hardy yellow-flowered perennial with masses of five-petaled summer blooms. Tough and drought-tolerant, it is also a noxious weed in many grazing regions.
herb
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