Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Virginia Bluebells
A beloved spring ephemeral whose pink buds open into clusters of nodding, sky-blue trumpet flowers. It blooms in woodland shade then dies back by summer, vanishing until the next spring.
flower
Solomon's Seal
Solomon's seal is a graceful shade perennial with arching stems lined with paired leaves and dangling white bell flowers. It brings elegant structure to woodland gardens.
flower
Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's ladder is a graceful perennial named for its neat, ladder-like rows of paired leaflets. In late spring it bears clusters of bell- to cup-shaped blue, white or pink flowers, making it a fine choice for cottage and woodland-edge gardens.
flower
Lungwort
Lungwort is a shade-loving perennial grown for its silver-spotted leaves and early spring flowers that often open pink and age to blue on the same plant. It is an excellent groundcover for woodland and shady gardens.
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Trout Lily
A delicate spring ephemeral named for its mottled, trout-patterned leaves and nodding yellow lily flowers. It forms vast, slow-spreading woodland colonies that can be over a century old.
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Toad Lily
Toad lily is a shade perennial bearing exotic, orchid-like flowers heavily speckled with purple in late summer and fall. Its intricate blooms reward a close look in the woodland garden.
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Wild Onion
A native North American perennial onion with flat, grass-like leaves and bulbs that emit a clear onion scent. It commonly appears in lawns, meadows and woodland edges and is regarded as both a wildflower and a lawn weed.
herb
Trillium
A cherished woodland wildflower built entirely in threes: three leaves, three petals, and three sepals. Slow-growing and long-lived, it is a hallmark of healthy spring forests and should never be picked or dug from the wild.
flower
Rhododendron
A large genus of evergreen and deciduous shrubs famed for spectacular spring trusses of bell- or funnel-shaped flowers. They thrive in acidic, moist, well-drained woodland soils with dappled light.
shrub
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
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
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
English Yew
English Yew is a long-lived evergreen conifer with dark needles and red berry-like arils, traditionally used for hedges and topiary.
tree
Irish Yew
Irish Yew is a distinctive columnar cultivar of English yew with a tight, upright form, dark needles whorled around the stems, and red arils.
shrub
Love-in-a-Mist
A delicate cottage-garden annual whose blue, white or pink flowers nestle in a misty halo of thread-like foliage, followed by ornamental inflated seed pods. Both the airy blooms and the balloon-like pods are prized for fresh and dried arrangements.
flower
Red Pine
Red Pine is a tall, straight North American conifer prized for timber, recognizable by its reddish, scaly bark and long needles borne in pairs.
tree
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
Colorado Blue Spruce
A striking conifer prized for its stiff, sharp, silvery-blue needles and tidy pyramidal form. Native to the Rocky Mountains and a popular ornamental and Christmas tree.
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Blue Spruce
Blue Spruce is a striking conifer famous for its stiff, silvery-blue needles and classic pyramidal form. It is a popular ornamental and Christmas tree in cold climates.
tree
Blue Star Juniper
Blue Star Juniper is a compact, mounding dwarf conifer with dense, silvery-blue, awl-shaped needles, prized as a low-maintenance ground-cover shrub.
shrub
Balsam Fir
A fragrant northern evergreen with flat, soft needles and resin-blistered bark, beloved as a Christmas tree for its classic spire shape and lasting pine scent.
tree
Pitch Pine
Pitch Pine is a rugged, fire-adapted eastern North American conifer known for its twisted form, three-needle bundles, and ability to resprout after fire.
tree
Yew
A long-lived evergreen conifer with dark needle foliage and red, berry-like arils. Extremely shade-tolerant and shearable, yews are classic hedging and topiary plants.
shrub
Eastern White Pine
A tall, fast-growing native conifer with soft blue-green needles in bundles of five and long, slender cones. The largest conifer of the northeastern forests and a historic timber tree.
tree