Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Silver Bay Aglaonema
'Silver Bay' is a popular Chinese evergreen cultivar with large, lance-shaped leaves splashed with silvery-grey down the center and edged in deep green. It is one of the most forgiving foliage houseplants, tolerating low light and irregular watering.
houseplant
Summersweet
A late-summer-blooming deciduous shrub with upright spikes of intensely fragrant white or pink flowers that draw bees and butterflies. Native to eastern North America, it thrives in moist, shady spots.
shrub
Ragweed
A common annual weed that produces large amounts of lightweight, wind-blown pollen in late summer and fall. It has fern-like, deeply divided leaves and inconspicuous greenish flower spikes.
herb
Geum
Geum, or avens, is a clump-forming perennial with airy stems of cheerful red, orange, or yellow flowers above hairy basal foliage. It blooms from late spring into summer in cottage borders.
flower
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
Spiderwort
Spiderwort is a clumping native perennial with grassy arching foliage and three-petaled blue, purple, or pink flowers that each last a single day. It blooms reliably from late spring through summer.
flower
Potentilla
A small, tough deciduous shrub that blooms nonstop from late spring to frost with cheerful yellow, white, pink, or orange flowers. Cold-hardy and undemanding, it suits borders, edging, and harsh sites.
shrub
Moon Cactus
The moon cactus is a brightly colored grafted novelty cactus, with a red, yellow, orange, or pink top fused onto a green rootstock. The colorful top lacks chlorophyll and depends on the host cactus to survive.
succulent
Hellebore
An evergreen shade perennial that blooms in late winter and early spring, when little else does, with nodding, cup-shaped flowers in white, pink, plum, and green. Long-lived and deer-resistant.
flower
Canary Creeper
Canary creeper is a delicate climbing relative of the nasturtium, named for its fringed, bright yellow flowers that resemble tiny birds in flight. It quickly clothes trellises and fences with lacy blue-green foliage.
flower
Corn Speedwell
Corn speedwell is a tiny low-growing winter annual weed with small, deep-blue flowers and rounded toothed leaves. It commonly carpets lawns, gardens, and bare ground in late winter and spring.
herb
Wild Geranium
A graceful woodland perennial bearing saucer-shaped pink to lavender flowers above deeply lobed leaves in late spring. It is a true hardy geranium, distinct from the tender garden 'geraniums' that are actually pelargoniums.
flower
Rose of Sharon
A hardy deciduous hibiscus that blooms profusely in late summer with showy, often two-toned flowers. Upright and easy to grow, it brings tropical-looking color to temperate gardens when little else is flowering.
shrub
Pink Trumpet Tree
The pink trumpet tree bursts into masses of pink to magenta trumpet-shaped flowers in late winter and spring, often while leafless, creating a spectacular cloud of color. It is a popular tropical and subtropical flowering tree.
tree
Nimblewill
Nimblewill is a wiry, warm-season perennial grass native to North America that often invades lawns as a patchy weed. It greens up late and turns straw-brown early, creating unsightly dormant patches.
grass
Anemone
Anemones, also called windflowers, are graceful perennials and bulbs that produce delicate, cup- or daisy-shaped flowers in spring or fall. Japanese anemones in particular bring valuable late-season color to shady borders.
flower
Cypress Vine
A delicate, fast-growing morning-glory relative with lacy, fern-like foliage and small star-shaped red, pink or white flowers that hummingbirds love. It quickly climbs trellises and fences with feathery, airy growth.
flower
Seven-Son Flower
Seven-son flower is a multi-season large shrub or small tree bearing fragrant white late-summer flowers followed by showy rosy-red sepals in fall. Its peeling tan bark adds winter interest.
shrub
False Aralia
False aralia is grown for its delicate, lacy foliage - slender, saw-toothed leaflets that radiate like fingers and emerge coppery before darkening to near-black green. It brings a fine, airy texture to bright indoor spaces.
houseplant
Joe-Pye Weed
Joe-Pye weed is a tall, native North American perennial topped with large, domed clusters of mauve-pink flowers in late summer. A pollinator powerhouse, it brings height and butterfly-friendly blooms to moist, sunny gardens and rain gardens.
flower
Sneezeweed
Sneezeweed is a cheerful late-summer perennial bearing masses of daisy-like flowers with raised central cones in warm shades of yellow, orange, red and bronze. Despite its name, it doesn't cause sneezing from pollen; the name comes from old use of its dried leaves as snuff.
flower
Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's ladder is a graceful perennial named for its neat, ladder-like rows of paired leaflets. In late spring it bears clusters of bell- to cup-shaped blue, white or pink flowers, making it a fine choice for cottage and woodland-edge gardens.
flower
Loblolly Pine
Loblolly pine is a fast-growing evergreen conifer of the southeastern United States and the region's most important timber tree. Tall and straight with long needles, it dominates southern forests and plantations.
tree