Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Jimsonweed
Jimsonweed is a rank-smelling nightshade with large white-to-purple trumpet flowers and spiny seed pods, and one of the most distinctive weeds of North America.
herb
Cleome
Cleome is a tall, airy annual topped with spidery clusters of pink, white, or purple flowers and long whisker-like seedpods, blooming all summer.
flower
Rex Begonia
A foliage begonia grown for its spectacular, swirled leaves in silver, purple, pink, and green. Dazzling but humidity-loving and a bit fussy.
houseplant
Inch Plant
A fast-growing trailing plant with shimmery purple-and-silver striped leaves. It roots and spreads quickly, making it a vigorous, colorful houseplant.
houseplant
Chives
Chives are a clump-forming perennial culinary herb in the onion family, grown for their slender hollow leaves and pompom-like purple flowers.
herb
Flame Violet
The Flame Violet is a trailing tropical plant grown for both its velvety, metallic-patterned leaves and its vivid red-orange flowers. A relative of the African violet, it spreads by runners to form a lush carpet.
houseplant
Bloodroot
An early spring ephemeral named for the red-orange sap that bleeds from its roots when cut. Each delicate white flower is wrapped in a single curled leaf and lasts only a few days.
flower
Lavender
An aromatic Mediterranean shrub-herb grown for its fragrant purple flower spikes and silvery foliage. Lavender thrives on sun, lean soil, and minimal water.
herb
Blazing Star
A native prairie perennial sending up tall spikes of fluffy purple flowers that open from the top down. A magnet for butterflies, it is a favorite of pollinator gardens.
flower
Artichoke
The globe artichoke is a striking thistle grown in gardens for its large, scaly flower buds. Left unharvested, the buds open into large, vivid purple blooms.
herb
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
Bell Pepper
Bell pepper is a blocky-fruited variety of Capsicum annuum grown as a warm-season garden crop, bearing glossy fruit in shades of green, red, yellow, and orange. It is a colorful, productive plant for sunny beds and containers.
herb
Pokeweed
Pokeweed is a tall, robust native perennial with striking magenta stems and drooping clusters of dark purple-black berries in late summer and fall.
herb
Jabuticaba
A slow-growing Brazilian tree remarkable for producing its grape-like purple-black fruit directly on the trunk and main branches (cauliflory).
tree
Sweet Potato Vine
Ornamental sweet potato vine is a vigorous trailing plant grown for its bold chartreuse, purple-black, or variegated foliage that cascades from containers all season.
houseplant
String Of Hearts
A delicate trailing succulent with heart-shaped, silver-marbled leaves strung along thread-like purple stems. Prized as an easy, fast-growing hanging plant.
succulent
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
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
Paperbark Maple
Paperbark maple is a small ornamental maple famous for its cinnamon-colored bark that peels in papery curls year-round and its fiery red-orange autumn foliage. It offers four-season interest in a compact form.
tree
Bull Thistle
Bull thistle is a spiny biennial weed with sharp, prickly leaves and large rose-purple flower heads that is both a pasture nuisance and a pollinator magnet.
flower
Wisteria
Wisteria is a vigorous woody climbing vine famous for dramatic cascades of fragrant purple, blue, or white flowers in spring. It is beautiful but can become invasive and needs firm pruning.
shrub
White Ash
A large native shade tree once widely planted for its strong wood and purple-bronze fall color. Now severely threatened by the invasive emerald ash borer.
tree
New England Aster
A robust native perennial that crowns the fall garden with masses of purple, daisy-like flowers around golden centers. It is a magnet for late-season bees and migrating monarch butterflies.
flower
Milk Thistle
Milk thistle is a striking, spiny thistle with glossy white-marbled leaves and large purple flower heads. Robust and self-seeding, it can become a weed in warm climates.
herb