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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Radish

Radish is a fast-growing root vegetable in the cabbage family, grown for its crisp, brightly colored roots. Many varieties go from seed to harvest in under a month, making it a favorite for impatient and beginner gardeners.

herb

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

Watercress

Watercress is a fast-growing semi-aquatic perennial in the cabbage family, with crisp dark-green leaves on sprawling, rooting stems. It naturally grows in cool, clean flowing water.

herb

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are a cool-season brassica that produces dozens of small, cabbage-like buds along a tall central stalk. Slow to mature, they are a hallmark of autumn and winter gardens.

herb

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

Japanese Maple

A small, elegant ornamental tree prized for delicate, deeply lobed leaves in shades of red, green and purple, and spectacular fall color. A centerpiece of Japanese gardens.

tree

Silk Floss Tree

The silk floss tree is a striking subtropical tree with a bulging, thorn-studded green trunk and large pink-and-cream hibiscus-like flowers in autumn. Its seed pods burst to release silky white fibers, giving the tree its name.

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Money Tree

A tropical tree often sold with a braided trunk and a crown of hand-shaped leaves, popular as a feng shui symbol of prosperity. It is easy-going and low-maintenance.

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Bloodgood Japanese Maple

Bloodgood is the classic deep-red Japanese maple, holding its dark burgundy-purple leaf color through summer better than most cultivars before turning crimson in fall. It is an elegant upright specimen tree.

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Coral Bark Maple

Coral bark maple is a Japanese maple cultivar famous for its glowing coral-red young stems that brighten the winter landscape. Its spring leaves emerge soft green and turn golden-yellow in fall.

tree

Ohio Buckeye

A medium native tree with palmate compound leaves, spiny husks holding glossy brown 'buckeye' seeds, and foliage that smells unpleasant when crushed.

tree

Lupine

A striking cottage-garden perennial with tall, dense spires of pea-like flowers in vivid blues, purples, pinks, and bicolors above palmate leaves. A nitrogen-fixing legume beloved by bees.

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Lupin

Lupin is a striking perennial bearing tall, dense spikes of pea-like flowers in vivid colors above palmate leaves. A legume, it fixes nitrogen and is a cottage-garden showstopper.

flower

Chaste Tree

The chaste tree is a Mediterranean deciduous shrub or small tree with aromatic, palmate foliage and slender spikes of lavender-blue summer flowers that attract bees and butterflies.

shrub

Thimble Cactus

A tiny clustering cactus that produces masses of little thimble-sized offsets which detach at the slightest touch. The pale spines give the cluster a soft, frosty look.

succulent

Philodendron Verrucosum

A spectacular climbing philodendron with large, heart-shaped, velvety leaves of deep green and pale veining, set on distinctive hairy, fuzzy petioles. It demands high humidity to thrive.

houseplant

Butternut

Butternut is a medium-sized North American walnut relative with elongated, sticky nuts and a pale, lightweight wood. Wild populations have been devastated by butternut canker disease.

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Poison Sumac

Poison sumac is a wetland shrub or small tree of eastern North America, distinguished from harmless sumacs by its smooth-edged leaflets and drooping pale berries.

shrub

Marshmallow

Marshmallow is a soft, downy wetland perennial in the mallow family, with velvety gray-green foliage and pale pink to white flowers. It grows in damp meadows and along riverbanks.

herb

Fox Tail Agave

A soft, spineless agave with pale blue-green rosettes and a curving, foxtail-like flower spike. Unusual among agaves for its lack of sharp spines and tolerance of light shade.

succulent

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

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is a fast-growing legume herb grown in gardens, with clover-like leaves, small pale flowers and slender, sickle-shaped seed pods. It is easy to grow and enriches soil as a nitrogen-fixer.

herb

Culver's Root

Culver's root is a tall, elegant North American prairie perennial with whorled leaves and slender, candelabra-like spires of white to pale-lilac flowers. It is a magnet for bees and butterflies in summer.

flower

Basswood

Basswood, or American linden, is a large deciduous shade tree with big heart-shaped leaves and fragrant summer flowers beloved by bees. Its soft, pale wood is a favorite of woodcarvers.

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