Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Purple Deadnettle
Purple deadnettle is a low winter annual in the mint family, recognized by its triangular, reddish-purple-tinged upper leaves and small pink-purple flowers. A close relative of henbit, it is a harmless, bee-friendly weed that carpets gardens and fields in early spring.
herb
Valerian
Valerian is a tall perennial herb with frothy, sweetly scented flower heads borne on upright clump-forming stems. It is grown as an ornamental for its airy white-to-pink blooms and ferny foliage.
herb
Calendula
Pot marigold is an easy cool-season annual with cheerful daisy-like orange and yellow flowers, long grown in cottage gardens and herb beds.
herb
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
Red Aglaonema
Red Aglaonema refers to a group of vividly colored Chinese evergreen cultivars whose leaves are flushed with pink, red, and crimson. Bred largely in Thailand, they bring rare warm tones to easy-care foliage houseplants.
houseplant
Love-in-a-Mist
A delicate cottage-garden annual whose blue, white or pink flowers nestle in a misty halo of thread-like foliage, followed by ornamental inflated seed pods. Both the airy blooms and the balloon-like pods are prized for fresh and dried arrangements.
flower
Indian Paintbrush
A vivid North American wildflower whose flame-colored display comes not from petals but from brightly tipped leaf-like bracts. It is a hemiparasite that taps the roots of neighboring plants, making it notoriously difficult to cultivate.
flower
Henbit
Henbit is a low winter annual in the mint family that carpets lawns, fields and gardens in early spring with pinkish-purple tubular flowers. It is closely related to purple deadnettle and, like it, is a bee-friendly weed of cool seasons.
herb
Hardy Geranium
Hardy geranium, or cranesbill, is a tough, long-lived perennial that forms spreading mounds of deeply lobed leaves covered in saucer-shaped flowers. Unlike the tender bedding "geraniums" (Pelargonium), these true geraniums are cold-hardy and low-maintenance.
flower
Globe Amaranth
A heat-loving annual grown for its round, clover-like flower heads of papery bracts in magenta, purple, pink, white or orange. The everlasting blooms keep their color when dried and stand up beautifully to summer heat and humidity.
flower
Catalpa Tree
The catalpa is a fast-growing deciduous shade tree famous for its huge heart-shaped leaves, showy clusters of frilly white flowers, and long slender seed pods resembling beans or cigars. It is a popular ornamental for large lawns and street plantings.
tree
Black-Eyed Susan Vine
A cheerful twining vine from Africa bearing masses of flat, five-petaled flowers in orange, yellow or white, each with a dark chocolate-purple center 'eye.' It quickly covers trellises and trails from baskets through the warm season.
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
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
Liatris
Liatris, also called blazing star or gayfeather, is a native prairie perennial with tall, fuzzy spikes of purple-pink flowers that uniquely open from the top down. A pollinator favorite, it adds vertical drama and butterfly traffic to sunny gardens.
flower
Mango Tree
The mango is a large tropical evergreen tree grown for its stone fruit. It thrives in hot, frost-free climates.
tree
Turmeric
Turmeric is an aromatic tropical perennial in the ginger family, grown for its vivid orange rhizome.
herb
Turnip
The turnip is a fast-growing cool-season root crop with a white-and-purple swollen root, grown widely in vegetable gardens.
herb
Mustard Greens
Mustard greens are fast-growing leafy plants in the cabbage family, grown as a cool-season crop in gardens across many regions.
herb
Sugar Pine
Sugar Pine is the world's tallest and most massive pine, native to the western U.S. and famous for its enormous, foot-plus-long cones.
tree
Radicchio
Radicchio is a leafy chicory grown for its striking red-and-white heads. Cool weather deepens their rich, vivid color.
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
Cumin
Cumin is a small annual herb in the carrot family grown for its seeds, a widely used culinary spice. It needs a long, hot, sunny season to ripen.
herb
Basil
A fragrant, warmth-loving aromatic herb in the mint family, grown for its highly aromatic leaves.
herb