Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
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
Grass Pink Orchid
Grass Pink is a North American terrestrial bog orchid known for its magenta-pink, non-resupinate blooms whose lip sits on top of the flower. It grows from a corm in acidic wetlands and is notoriously difficult to cultivate outside its native habitat.
flower
Canada Thistle
Canada thistle is an aggressive perennial weed with spiny leaves and small pink-purple flower heads that spreads relentlessly through deep, creeping roots. Despite its name it is native to Europe and Asia, and it is one of the most difficult agricultural weeds to control.
herb
Sweetgum
A large deciduous shade tree known for its glossy star-shaped leaves, brilliant fall color, and spiky round seed balls. Native to the southeastern United States.
tree
Shore Pine
Shore Pine is the coastal form of the lodgepole pine, a tough, twisted two-needle pine of the Pacific coast. Its irregular, picturesque shape makes it popular for seaside gardens and bonsai.
tree
Yoshino Cherry
An ornamental cherry famous for clouds of pale pink-to-white blossoms in early spring. It is the iconic tree of Washington, D.C.'s Tidal Basin and Japan's cherry-blossom season.
tree
Snowball Cactus
A clustering pincushion cactus wrapped in soft white, hair-like spines that give it a fluffy, snowball appearance. Easy to grow and quick to form charming colonies.
succulentCopper Pinwheel
A branching aeonium hybrid whose flat rosettes glow coppery-orange to bronze in strong sun. The warm metallic tones set it apart from the usual green and black aeoniums.
succulentRosemary
An aromatic, woody Mediterranean herb with needle-like evergreen leaves and a piney fragrance, grown as a culinary herb and as a drought-tolerant ornamental shrub.
herb
Queen Anne's Lace
Queen Anne's lace is a biennial wildflower with delicate, flat-topped clusters of tiny white flowers and a single dark floret in the center. It is the wild ancestor of the cultivated carrot.
flower
Plumeria
Plumeria is a tropical shrub or small tree prized for its intensely fragrant, waxy flowers in shades of white, yellow, pink, and red, famously used to make Hawaiian leis.
shrub
Lychee Tree
A subtropical evergreen tree producing clusters of red, knobbly-skinned fruit. It is a beautiful but demanding tree that needs precise climate conditions to fruit.
tree
Marble Queen Pothos
Marble Queen is a heavily variegated pothos cultivar with heart-shaped leaves marbled in creamy white and green. It is easy to grow but slower than golden pothos due to its high variegation.
houseplant
Hydrangea Tree
The hydrangea tree is a panicle hydrangea trained to a single trunk, topped with large cone-shaped clusters of white flowers that age to pink in late summer. It is the hardiest and most sun-tolerant of the hydrangeas.
shrub
Ironweed
A tall, robust native perennial crowned in late summer with clusters of intensely purple flowers. Its tough, wiry stems and iron-hard durability give it its name.
flower
Huckleberry
A wild, blueberry-like shrub of western North American mountains, bearing small purple-black berries. Notoriously difficult to cultivate, it grows mostly in the wild.
shrub
English Daisy
The English daisy is a low, cheerful perennial with white-to-pink petaled flowers around a yellow center, beloved in cottage gardens and famous as the daisy of lawns and daisy-chains.
flower
Eastern Redbud
A small understory tree famous for the cloud of pink-purple flowers that bloom directly on its bare branches in early spring. Native to eastern North America.
tree
Burdock
A large biennial famous for its bur-covered seed heads that cling to fur and clothing, the inspiration for Velcro. It has enormous rhubarb-like leaves and a thick, deep taproot.
herb
Burning Bush
A deciduous shrub famous for its fiery crimson-red fall foliage and distinctive corky 'wings' along the stems. Tough and adaptable, it is also invasive in parts of North America.
shrub
Catmint
A soft, billowing perennial with gray-green aromatic foliage and a long haze of small lavender-blue flowers. Tough, drought-proof, deer-resistant, and a magnet for bees.
herb
Blanket Flower
A heat-loving, daisy-like perennial in fiery bands of red, orange, and yellow that bloom nonstop all summer. Tough, drought-proof, and beloved by bees and butterflies.
flower
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