Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
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
Camellia
Camellias are elegant evergreen shrubs with glossy dark foliage and large, rose-like blooms in winter and early spring. Their long flowering season and lush leaves make them prized in shade gardens.
shrub
Boysenberry
A trailing bramble hybrid created by crossing blackberry, raspberry, dewberry and loganberry. It produces large, deep maroon aggregate berries and is famously associated with Knott's Berry Farm.
shrub
Brain Cactus
A crested form of the ladyfinger cactus whose fused, fan-like growth folds into convoluted ridges resembling a brain. A novelty succulent prized for its sculptural, undulating surface.
succulent
Black Cherry
Black cherry is a native North American hardwood valued for its fine reddish furniture timber, drooping clusters of white spring flowers, and small dark fruits borne in late summer.
tree
Showy Lady's Slipper
Showy Lady's Slipper is a large, slow-growing native orchid prized for its inflated white pouch flushed with rose-pink. It is the state flower of Minnesota and one of the most spectacular wild orchids of North America.
flower
Kudzu
Kudzu is a fast-growing climbing vine infamous for smothering trees, buildings, and landscapes across the southeastern United States at remarkable speed.
shrub
Elephant Ear Cactus
A prickly pear with flat, rounded green pads that branch into ear-like shapes. Instead of long spines it bears dense tufts of tiny barbed glochids that detach at the lightest touch.
succulent
Beautyberry
A deciduous shrub famous for the clusters of vivid metallic-purple berries that wrap its arching branches in fall. Native to the southeastern US, it is easy, wildlife-friendly, and unmistakable in autumn.
shrub
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
Weeping Cherry
The weeping cherry is an ornamental flowering cherry with gracefully cascading branches smothered in pink or white blossoms each spring. Its waterfall silhouette makes it a popular specimen and lawn focal point.
tree
Velvetleaf
A tall summer annual with large, soft, heart-shaped velvety leaves and yellow flowers, a major agricultural weed of corn and soybean fields. Its distinctive cup-shaped seed pods and fibrous stems make it easy to recognize.
herb
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
Pumpkin
Pumpkin is a sprawling warm-season vine in the gourd family, grown for its large, ribbed orange fruits popular in autumn displays and decoration. It is one of the easiest and most rewarding garden crops where space allows.
herb
Medlar Tree
The medlar is an ancient, gnarled deciduous tree in the rose family, grown for its large white spring flowers, twisted branches, and distinctive russet-brown fruit with a wide open calyx. Hardy and low-maintenance.
tree
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
An unusual woodland perennial named for its hooded flower structure resembling a preacher (Jack) standing in a canopied pulpit. It can change sex from year to year and produces a cluster of bright red berries in fall.
flower
Hebe
Hebe is a neat evergreen shrub from New Zealand with tidy mounding foliage and bottlebrush-like spikes of purple, pink or white flowers. It is a reliable, pollinator-friendly choice for mild coastal gardens.
shrub
Hawthorn Tree
The hawthorn is a thorny deciduous tree or shrub bearing fragrant white spring blossoms and clusters of red autumn berries called haws. Long used for hedging, it is steeped in folklore and supports abundant wildlife.
tree
Giant Sequoia
The giant sequoia is the most massive tree on Earth by volume, a colossal evergreen conifer of California's Sierra Nevada with fibrous reddish bark, scale-like foliage, and a lifespan of thousands of years.
tree
Empress Tree
The empress tree is an extremely fast-growing tree with huge fuzzy leaves and upright clusters of fragrant lavender, foxglove-like flowers in spring. It is admired for its rapid growth and bloom but is invasive in many regions.
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
Butterfly Bush
A fast-growing deciduous shrub bearing long, fragrant flower spikes that are magnets for butterflies and bees. Vigorous and easy, it is also invasive in some regions, so non-seeding cultivars are recommended.
shrub