Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Ninebark
A rugged North American deciduous shrub named for its peeling, layered bark. Modern cultivars offer striking burgundy, gold, or copper foliage plus clusters of white-to-pink spring flowers.
shrub
Melampodium
Melampodium, or butter daisy, is a tough, heat-loving annual that forms neat mounds covered in small golden-yellow daisies all summer. It thrives in hot, humid conditions and is virtually maintenance-free.
flower
Juniper
A tough, evergreen coniferous shrub (some species small trees) with needle-like or scale-like foliage and blue berry-like cones. Junipers range from low groundcovers to upright forms and thrive in poor, dry soils.
shrub
Gray Pine
A sparse, open-crowned California pine known for its ghostly gray-green foliage and enormous, heavy cones with large seeds. It is endemic to the dry foothills surrounding California's Central Valley.
tree
Forsythia
A tough deciduous shrub that bursts into brilliant yellow flowers along bare branches in early spring, before its leaves appear. One of the earliest and most reliable harbingers of spring in temperate gardens.
shrub
Fig Tree
The common fig is a deciduous Mediterranean tree grown for its large lobed leaves and distinctive fruiting form. Easy to grow and forgiving, it is one of the oldest cultivated trees and thrives in warm gardens and containers.
tree
Douglas Fir
Douglas fir is a towering western North American conifer prized as a timber and Christmas tree, recognizable by its soft flat needles and distinctive three-pointed bracts protruding from the cones.
tree
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is a cool-season member of the cabbage family grown for its dense white head of immature flower buds, called a curd. It is one of the more demanding brassicas, needing steady cool conditions to head up well.
herb
Allium
Ornamental alliums are bulbs grown for their dramatic spherical flower heads on tall, leafless stems. Related to onions and garlic, they add bold architectural interest and are largely pest-proof.
flower
African Tulip Tree
The African tulip tree is a fast-growing tropical tree topped with vivid orange-red, tulip-shaped flowers held above glossy foliage. Its showy blooms make it a popular ornamental, though it is invasive in many tropical regions.
tree
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
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
Cocklebur
Cocklebur is a coarse annual weed famous for its hard, hooked burs that cling to fur and clothing. It is a serious agricultural and pasture pest.
herb
Arugula
Arugula is a fast-growing, cool-season leafy green in the brassica family. It goes from seed to a low rosette of lobed leaves in a matter of weeks.
herb
Velvetleaf
A tall summer annual with large, soft, heart-shaped velvety leaves and yellow flowers, a major agricultural weed of corn and soybean fields. Its distinctive cup-shaped seed pods and fibrous stems make it easy to recognize.
herb
Teasel
Teasel is a tall, spiny biennial topped with egg-shaped, prickly flower heads ringed by tiny lavender blooms. Once used to raise the nap on woolen cloth, it is now considered an invasive weed in much of North America.
herb
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
An unusual woodland perennial named for its hooded flower structure resembling a preacher (Jack) standing in a canopied pulpit. It can change sex from year to year and produces a cluster of bright red berries in fall.
flower
Golden Rain Tree
The golden rain tree is a small to medium deciduous shade tree noted for its large sprays of bright yellow summer flowers followed by papery, lantern-like seed capsules. It is tough, adaptable, and popular as a street and lawn tree.
tree
Daylily
An exceptionally tough clumping perennial whose trumpet-shaped flowers each last a single day, but bloom in dazzling succession all summer. Available in thousands of cultivars and nearly foolproof to grow.
flower
Bur Oak
Bur oak is a massive, long-lived North American oak known for its huge, fringe-capped acorns, deeply furrowed bark and exceptional toughness. Drought- and fire-resistant, it is a stately tree for large landscapes.
tree
Button Fern
The Button Fern is a compact fern with distinctive round, button-like leaflets along arching dark stems. Unlike most ferns it tolerates somewhat drier conditions, making it a charming, manageable choice for small spaces.
fern
Sunflower
A fast-growing annual famous for its large golden flower heads that track the sun while young. Native to North America, it is grown for ornament and as a cut flower.
flower
Persimmon Tree
A deciduous fruit tree grown for its glossy orange fruit that ripens in autumn and clings to bare branches like ornaments, and for its vivid fall foliage.
tree
Pea
The garden pea is a cool-season climbing legume grown for its seeds and pods. It is one of the earliest crops to sow in spring and fixes nitrogen to enrich the soil.
herb