Plant Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.

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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

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

Impatiens

Impatiens are shade-loving annuals that smother themselves in flat, colorful flowers all summer, thriving where few other bedding plants will bloom. Their name refers to seed pods that burst open at a touch.

flower

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

Baby Toes

A curious dwarf succulent that forms clusters of upright, club-shaped leaves with translucent 'windows' on their flat tops, looking like rows of tiny baby toes. It bears white or yellow daisy-like flowers.

succulent

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

Jelly Bean Plant

The jelly bean plant is a small, easygoing sedum with plump, bean-shaped leaves that turn from green to bright red at the tips when grown in full sun. It is fast-spreading and very simple to propagate.

succulent

Snakeroot

Snakeroot, also called black cohosh, is a tall woodland perennial bearing dramatic white bottlebrush spires of fragrant flowers above ferny foliage. It is a striking native for moist, shady gardens.

flower

Sweet William

Sweet William is a short-lived cottage-garden classic bearing dense, flat clusters of fringed, often bicolored flowers with a clove-like fragrance. It's typically grown as a biennial, blooming in its second year.

flower

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

Star Magnolia

Star magnolia is a slow-growing small tree or large shrub that opens dozens of fragrant, many-petaled white star-shaped flowers in very early spring, often before any other tree blooms. Its compact size suits smaller gardens.

tree

Goatsbeard

Goatsbeard is a robust, shade-loving perennial that produces tall, feathery plumes of creamy-white flowers, resembling a giant astilbe. It is a striking native woodland plant for moist, partly shaded gardens.

shrub

Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash that grows as an oval yellow fruit on vigorous summer vines. The fruit stores well into fall and winter.

herb

Dill

Dill is a feathery, aromatic annual herb in the carrot family, grown in herb gardens for its delicate foliage and oval seeds.

herb

Thyme

A low, woody Mediterranean herb with tiny aromatic leaves, valued as a drought-tolerant ground cover and a superb bee plant.

herb

Pacific Silver Fir

Pacific Silver Fir is a shade-tolerant Northwest fir with dense, lush foliage that is glossy green above and silvery-white beneath.

tree

Lima Bean

Lima beans are a warm-season legume in the pea family, available in bush and pole forms. They are a heat-loving plant native to the Americas.

herb

Kentucky Coffeetree

A bold, coarse-textured native tree with enormous twice-compound leaves and thick leathery seedpods that persist into winter.

tree

Lambsquarters

Lambsquarters is a fast-growing annual weed with mealy, diamond-shaped (goosefoot) leaves and a whitish, mealy coating on new growth.

herb

Licorice

A deep-rooted leguminous perennial grown for its long taproot system. It thrives in warm climates and rich, sandy soils.

herb

Grand Fir

Grand Fir is a fast-growing Pacific Northwest fir with flat, glossy needles arranged in neat flat sprays and a strong citrus scent when crushed.

tree

Siberian Fir

Siberian Fir is an extremely cold-hardy conifer of the Russian taiga, with soft fragrant needles. Its aromatic needle oil is used in perfumes and fragrances.

tree

Rutabaga

Rutabaga is a hardy root crop, a cross between cabbage and turnip, grown for its large, dense, yellow-fleshed root. It is very cold-tolerant and stores well.

herb

River Birch

A fast-growing native birch famous for its showy, peeling cinnamon-and-cream bark and tolerance of wet soils. The most heat-tolerant of North American birches.

tree