Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Black Walnut
A large, valuable native hardwood prized for its rich, dark timber. Its roots release juglone, a compound that inhibits the growth of many nearby plants.
tree
Eastern Red Cedar
Eastern Red Cedar is a tough, aromatic evergreen juniper native to North America, known for its reddish, fragrant wood and blue berry-like cones. It thrives in poor, dry soils.
tree
Baby Rubber Plant
The Baby Rubber Plant is a compact peperomia with thick, glossy, spoon-shaped leaves that store water. It is easy and tolerant of occasional neglect.
houseplant
Eggplant
Eggplant is a warm-season member of the nightshade family grown in gardens for its glossy, pendant fruits that range from deep purple to white. It thrives in heat and a long growing season.
herb
Astragalus
A hardy perennial legume native to northern China and nearby regions, grown for its long, fibrous taproot. It is drought-tolerant and thrives in well-drained soils.
herb
Dallisgrass
Dallisgrass is a coarse, fast-growing perennial bunchgrass that is valued as forage in pastures but reviled as a tough, clumping weed in lawns.
grass
Black Oak
Black oak is a large red-oak-group tree of eastern North America with dark, blocky bark and bristle-tipped lobed leaves. Its inner bark once yielded the yellow dye quercitron.
tree
Cranberry
A low, trailing evergreen shrub native to North American wetlands, grown for its red berries. It requires acidic, consistently moist, peaty soil to thrive.
shrub
Black Spruce
Black Spruce is a slow-growing boreal conifer of cold northern bogs, recognizable by its narrow crown, short needles, and small persistent cones.
tree
Clematis
Clematis is a versatile climbing vine renowned for its large, showy flowers that cover trellises, fences, and arbors in a spectacular seasonal display.
shrub
Black Medic
Black medic is a low, clover-like legume weed with small yellow flower clusters and distinctive coiled black seed pods, common in lawns and disturbed soils.
herb
Crepe Myrtle
Crepe myrtle is a small deciduous tree or large shrub beloved for its long-lasting, crinkled summer flower clusters, smooth peeling bark, and brilliant fall color, thriving in hot climates.
tree
Blood Orange
Blood orange is an orange cultivar whose flesh develops crimson-to-burgundy pigment from anthocyanins, triggered by cool nights. It produces fruit on a compact evergreen 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
Azalea
Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus Rhododendron, prized for masses of funnel-shaped spring blooms. They prefer acidic soil, dappled light, and consistent moisture.
shrub
Creeping Buttercup
Creeping buttercup is a low, spreading perennial with glossy yellow flowers that colonizes lawns and damp ground via rooting runners. It is an aggressive and persistent weed.
flower
Astilbe
A shade-loving perennial topped with feathery, plume-like flower panicles in pink, red, lavender, or white above fern-like foliage. Prized for bringing color and softness to moist, dappled gardens.
flower
Crown of Thorns
A spiny succulent shrub from Madagascar prized for its near year-round display of small, brightly colored bracts surrounding tiny flowers. Tough and drought-tolerant, with thorn-armored stems and milky sap.
succulent
Beet
Beet is a cool-season root vegetable grown for its rounded, swollen root and its leafy greens. The familiar deep-red root is the most common, but golden, white, and striped types also exist.
herb
Creeping Fig
A vigorous, small-leaved climbing fig that clings tightly to walls and trellises. Popular as a trailing houseplant, terrarium creeper, and outdoor wall cover.
houseplant
Barrenwort
Barrenwort is a tough, low groundcover for dry shade, with delicate spring flowers and heart-shaped leaves that often emerge and finish the season tinted red. It thrives where little else will.
flower
Crabapple Tree
A small ornamental tree prized for its profuse spring blossoms and colorful, persistent miniature apples. Flowering crabapples are among the most popular landscape trees in temperate climates.
tree
Bitternut Hickory
Bitternut hickory is a tall, fast-growing eastern North American hickory recognized by its bright sulfur-yellow winter buds. Its dense, strong wood is valued for tool handles and firewood.
tree
Crocus
Crocuses are among the earliest spring bulbs, pushing up goblet-shaped flowers in purple, yellow, and white, sometimes through snow. Autumn-blooming species include the saffron crocus.
flower
Bald Cypress
A deciduous conifer of southern swamps, famous for its feathery foliage, buttressed trunk, and 'knees' that poke up from the water. Drops its needles in fall, hence 'bald.'
tree
Daffodil
A cheerful spring bulb with trumpet-centered yellow or white flowers, among the first to bloom after winter. Daffodils are hardy, deer-resistant, and reliably perennial.
flower
Bird of Paradise
The bird of paradise is a dramatic tropical plant famous for its vivid orange-and-blue flowers that resemble an exotic bird in flight. It has bold paddle-shaped leaves and makes a striking statement indoors or in warm gardens.
flower
Desert Rose
The desert rose is a striking caudex succulent with a swollen trunk and clusters of showy, trumpet-shaped pink to red flowers. It is widely grown as a bonsai-like ornamental.
succulent
Bells of Ireland
Bells of Ireland is a cool-season annual famous for its tall spires of shell-like green calyces that look like little bells. It is a florist favorite for adding vertical lines and lasting green color to bouquets.
flower
Devil's Ivy
A vigorous trailing vine with heart-shaped, often variegated leaves, famous for being nearly impossible to kill. One of the best beginner houseplants.
houseplant
Barnyardgrass
Barnyardgrass is a fast-growing annual grass and one of the world's most troublesome weeds of rice and row crops.
grass
Deutzia
A graceful deciduous shrub smothered in clusters of small white (or pink) star-shaped flowers in late spring. Compact, hardy, and easy, it works well in borders, edging, and mass plantings.
shrub
Bellflower
Bellflowers are a large group of perennials and biennials bearing bell- or star-shaped flowers, usually in blue, purple or white. They range from low rock-garden creepers to tall border plants.
flower
Croton
The croton is a tropical shrub famous for its leathery leaves splashed with brilliant yellow, orange, red, and green. Bright light is the key to its vivid coloring.
shrub
Bilberry
A low-growing wild relative of the blueberry, native to northern European heaths and woodlands. It forms a small deciduous shrub bearing dark blue-black berries on distinctive angular green stems.
shrub
Curly Dock
Curly dock is a hardy perennial weed with long, wavy-edged leaves and tall rusty-brown seed stalks. Its deep taproot makes it persistent and difficult to remove.
herb
Bay Laurel
Bay laurel is an aromatic evergreen tree or shrub, a classic culinary herb most often grown as an elegant clipped topiary or hedge. Slow-growing and easily shaped.
herbCape Primrose
Cape primrose is a compact, long-blooming relative of the African violet, prized for its rosettes of soft, strappy leaves and clouds of trumpet-shaped flowers in blues, purples, pinks and white. It flowers for months with very little fuss on a bright windowsill.
houseplant
Atlas Cedar
Atlas Cedar is a stately true cedar from North Africa, famous for the silvery-blue 'Glauca' form. It has stiff, ascending branches and a bold pyramidal shape that becomes flat-topped with age.
tree
Cleome
Cleome is a tall, airy annual topped with spidery clusters of pink, white, or purple flowers and long whisker-like seedpods, blooming all summer.
flower
Barberry
A dense, thorny deciduous shrub grown for colorful red, gold, or purple foliage and bright red berries. Tough and adaptable, though invasive in parts of North America.
shrub
Coleus
Coleus is a vibrant foliage plant grown for its endlessly varied leaves in shades of red, pink, green, purple, and gold. Easy to grow and propagate, it is a favorite for containers and shady beds.
houseplant
Baby's Breath
Baby's breath is an airy perennial producing clouds of tiny white or pink flowers on wiry, branching stems. It's a florist's staple as a delicate filler in bouquets and a soft accent in the garden.
flower
Colorado Blue Spruce
A striking conifer prized for its stiff, sharp, silvery-blue needles and tidy pyramidal form. Native to the Rocky Mountains and a popular ornamental and Christmas tree.
tree
Alyssum
Sweet alyssum is a low, spreading annual smothered in tiny honey-scented flowers, prized as a fast, fragrant carpet for borders, containers and hanging baskets.
flower
Collard Greens
Collard greens are a hardy, non-heading form of cabbage grown for their large, broad blue-green leaves. A leafy garden vegetable, they are cold-tolerant and productive over a long season.
herb
Begonia
An enormous genus grown for both showy flowers and spectacularly patterned foliage. From bedding wax begonias to dramatic rex begonias, there is a begonia for nearly every garden and windowsill.
flower
Coral Cactus
The coral cactus is a grafted novelty plant combining a fan-shaped, crested Euphorbia top with a separate Euphorbia rootstock, resembling a piece of coral or a crested ridge. It is a Euphorbia, not a cactus.
succulent