Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Yellow Nutsedge
Yellow nutsedge is a grass-like perennial sedge, not a true grass, that infests lawns, gardens and crops by spreading through underground tubers called 'nutlets'. The same tubers are also cultivated in some regions, where they are known as chufa or tiger nuts.
grass
Winterberry
Winterberry is a deciduous holly native to eastern North America, prized for the dense clusters of brilliant red berries that cling to its bare branches through winter. Unlike most hollies it drops its leaves, leaving a striking show of fruit against snow.
shrub
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
Bee Balm
A fragrant North American native with shaggy, crown-like flowers in red, pink, or purple that are irresistible to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Its aromatic leaves release a citrusy, minty scent when crushed.
herb
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
Firesticks
A pencil-thin, branching succulent whose cylindrical stems turn brilliant orange, red, and yellow in cool, sunny weather. It is a dramatic landscape and container plant with slender, leafless stems.
succulent
Elephant Bush
Elephant bush is a fast-growing South African succulent shrub with small round jade-green leaves on reddish stems, popular as a houseplant, bonsai subject, and carbon-storing landscape plant.
succulent
Blackberry
Blackberries are vigorous, often thorny cane plants in the rose family, bearing glossy black aggregate berries in late summer. Famously tough, they grow wild as brambles and in many improved garden varieties.
shrub
Bell Pepper
Bell pepper is a blocky-fruited variety of Capsicum annuum grown as a warm-season garden crop, bearing glossy fruit in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. It is a colorful, productive plant for sunny beds and containers.
herb
Kumquat
A small evergreen citrus producing tiny oval orange fruit. It is among the most cold-hardy citrus and a popular compact container plant.
tree
Butternut
Butternut is a medium-sized North American walnut relative with elongated, sticky nuts and a pale, lightweight wood. Wild populations have been devastated by butternut canker disease.
tree
White Oak
White oak is a majestic, long-lived North American hardwood with rounded leaf lobes and prized, water-tight timber. A keystone forest tree, it can live for centuries and supports a vast web of wildlife.
tree
Sugar Maple
Sugar maple is a hallmark of North America's blazing autumn forests and the maple traditionally tapped for its sap. It is a large, long-lived shade tree with dense, hard wood prized for furniture and flooring.
tree
Trout Lily
A delicate spring ephemeral named for its mottled, trout-patterned leaves and nodding yellow lily flowers. It forms vast, slow-spreading woodland colonies that can be over a century old.
flower
Sweetbay Magnolia
Sweetbay magnolia is a graceful native North American tree with creamy, lemon-scented summer flowers and silvery-backed leaves. Unusually for a magnolia, it thrives in wet, swampy ground.
tree
Oxeye Daisy
A classic white-and-yellow daisy native to Europe and naturalized across North America, the oxeye daisy is the wild ancestor of garden Shasta daisies. It thrives in meadows, roadsides, and disturbed ground.
flower
Satin Pothos
A trailing tropical vine with heart-shaped, matte green leaves splashed in shimmering silver. Despite the name it is not a true pothos, but it shares the same easygoing, low-light tolerance.
houseplant
Pignut Hickory
Pignut hickory is a tall, upland hickory of eastern North America with smooth gray bark and pear-shaped nuts. It is valued for tough wood, brilliant golden fall color, and as wildlife habitat.
tree
Mock Orange
A deciduous shrub grown for its profuse, intensely fragrant white late-spring flowers that smell like orange blossom. Easy and hardy, it is a nostalgic favorite of cottage gardens.
shrub
Foxtail Fern
Despite its name, foxtail fern is not a true fern but a member of the asparagus family, grown for its plush, upright plumes of needle-like 'leaves.' Its dense, bottlebrush fronds resemble fluffy green foxtails.
houseplant
Columbine
Columbine is a graceful perennial prized for its intricate, spurred flowers that nod above lacy blue-green foliage in late spring. It self-seeds readily and is a favorite of hummingbirds and bees.
flower
California Lilac
California lilac is a western North American shrub celebrated for its dense clusters of intensely blue flowers in spring. It is a magnet for bees and a backbone of water-wise native gardens.
shrub
Beardtongue
A North American native perennial with upright spikes of tubular, two-lipped flowers in white, pink, purple, or red. Loved by hummingbirds and bees, and tough in lean, well-drained soil.
flower