Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Mullein
Mullein is a striking biennial that forms a rosette of soft, woolly leaves the first year and a towering yellow flower spike the second. It is a classic wildflower herb of dry, open ground.
herb
Painted Daisy
Painted daisy is a hardy perennial bearing cheerful daisy flowers in pink, red, and white with golden centers over fern-like foliage. Its flowers are the natural source of the insecticide pyrethrum.
flower
Musk Thistle
Musk thistle is a spiny biennial weed with large, nodding rose-purple flower heads; native to Eurasia, it is an aggressive invader of pastures and rangelands across North America.
flower
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.
flower
Larkspur
A cool-season annual related to delphinium, bearing tall spikes of spurred blue, purple, pink or white flowers above feathery foliage. It is a cottage-garden classic and an excellent cut flower.
flower
Hoya Kerrii
A succulent-leaved hoya whose thick, heart-shaped leaves make it a popular Valentine's gift, often sold as a single rooted leaf. As a full plant it vines and produces clusters of fragrant star-shaped flowers.
succulent
Janet Craig Dracaena
Janet Craig is a popular Dracaena cultivar with glossy, solid dark-green strap leaves on upright canes. Exceptionally tolerant of low light and neglect, it's a staple of homes and offices.
houseplant
Hen And Chicks
Hen and chicks is a hardy rosette-forming succulent that spreads by producing clusters of offsets, or 'chicks,' around the central 'hen.' It is exceptionally cold-tolerant and thrives in rock gardens and containers.
succulent
Golden Pothos
Golden Pothos is one of the most popular and forgiving houseplants, with heart-shaped green leaves marbled in golden yellow. It tolerates neglect and low light, earning the nickname devil's ivy.
houseplant
Grape Ivy
Grape Ivy is a vigorous climbing or trailing vine with glossy, toothed leaves resembling grapevine foliage. Tolerant of lower light and easy to grow, it's a classic for hanging baskets and trellises.
houseplant
Foxtail Fern
Despite its name, foxtail fern is not a true fern but a member of the asparagus family, grown for its plush, upright plumes of needle-like 'leaves.' Its dense, bottlebrush fronds resemble fluffy green foxtails.
houseplant
Flame Bottle Tree
The flame bottle tree, or Illawarra flame tree, is an Australian tree that blazes with masses of scarlet bell-shaped flowers on bare branches in early summer. It belongs to the bottle tree family, with a stout trunk and maple-like leaves.
tree
Fishbone Cactus
An epiphytic jungle cactus with flat, deeply zigzagged stems resembling a fish skeleton. Easy to grow and capable of producing large, fragrant night-blooming flowers in autumn.
succulent
Flowering Peach
The flowering peach is an ornamental form of the peach tree grown for its lavish spring display of double pink, red, or white blossoms. It is a showy small accent tree, prized in gardens and in East Asian culture.
tree
Fig
The common fig is a deciduous Mediterranean tree or large shrub grown for its bold lobed foliage and teardrop-shaped fruit. It is hardy, drought-tolerant, and one of the oldest cultivated plants.
tree
Eastern Hemlock
Eastern hemlock is a graceful, shade-tolerant evergreen conifer of cool eastern forests, with soft flat needles and tiny cones; it is threatened across its range by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid.
tree
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
Columbine
Columbine is a graceful perennial prized for its intricate, spurred flowers that nod above lacy blue-green foliage in late spring. It self-seeds readily and is a favorite of hummingbirds and bees.
flower
California Lilac
California lilac is a western North American shrub celebrated for its dense clusters of intensely blue flowers in spring. It is a magnet for bees and a backbone of water-wise native gardens.
shrub
Calathea
A group of tropical foliage plants prized for their elaborately patterned, often purple-backed leaves. Calatheas are humidity-loving and known for being fussy about water quality.
houseplant
Bunny Ear Cactus
The bunny ear cactus is a charming Mexican prickly pear whose flat, paddle-shaped pads grow in pairs resembling rabbit ears, dotted with tufts of fine golden glochids instead of long spines.
succulent
Cherry Blossom Tree
Cherry blossom trees are ornamental flowering cherries famed for their spectacular spring bloom of pink or white blossoms. Central to Japanese hanami tradition, they are short-lived but beloved worldwide.
tree
Calathea Medallion
Calathea Medallion is admired for its rounded leaves painted with concentric rings of green and a deep maroon-purple underside. It folds its leaves upward at night, a prayer-plant trait.
houseplant
Bottlebrush
Bottlebrush is an Australian evergreen shrub famous for its cylindrical brushes of bright red flowers that draw hummingbirds and bees. It is heat- and drought-tolerant and blooms for much of the year.
shrub