Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Persian Ironwood
Persian ironwood is a tough, slow-growing tree celebrated for spectacular multicolored fall foliage and beautiful flaking bark. Its tiny red flowers appear on bare branches in late winter.
tree
Philodendron Birkin
Philodendron Birkin is a compact, self-heading houseplant with glossy dark green leaves finely striped in creamy white. A stable spontaneous mutation, it is easy to grow and ideal for tabletops.
houseplant
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
Moonflower
A fast-growing tropical vine whose large, fragrant white flowers unfurl at dusk and bloom through the night, closing by morning. Related to morning glory, it is grown on trellises for evening fragrance and night-garden drama.
flower
Masterwort
Masterwort is a clump-forming perennial with intricate, pincushion-like flower heads surrounded by a papery collar of petal-like bracts. It brings cottage-garden charm to moist, partly shaded borders.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
treeMarjoram
Marjoram is a tender, aromatic Mediterranean herb closely related to oregano, grown as a culinary herb in gardens, pots, and on windowsills.
herb
Honeyberry
An extremely cold-hardy deciduous shrub bearing elongated blue berries with a waxy bloom. It is one of the earliest of its kind to set fruit each season.
shrub
Fuchsia
Fuchsia is a shade-loving shrub famous for its dangling, two-tone teardrop flowers that resemble tiny ballerinas and draw hummingbirds.
shrub
Daisy
The classic low-growing daisy with white petals and a yellow center, often seen dotting lawns and meadows. Cheerful, hardy, and easy to grow.
flower
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