Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Tamarind Tree
The tamarind is a large, long-lived tropical fruiting tree in the legume family, producing brown seed pods. It is heat- and drought-tolerant but frost-sensitive.
tree
Dusty Miller
Grown for its felted, silvery-white foliage rather than flowers, dusty miller is a versatile foil plant that tolerates heat, drought, and salt.
flower
Angelonia
Often called summer snapdragon, angelonia produces upright spikes of orchid-like flowers that thrive in heat and humidity all season without deadheading.
flower
Watermelon
Watermelon is a sprawling, heat-loving vine in the gourd family grown for its very large fruits. It needs a long, hot season and plenty of room to develop well.
herbRiver Birch
A fast-growing native birch famous for its showy, peeling cinnamon-and-cream bark and tolerance of wet soils. The most heat-tolerant of North American birches.
tree
Oleander
Oleander is a heat- and drought-loving evergreen shrub with showy clusters of pink, white, or red flowers all summer. Beautiful and tough, it is a mainstay of warm-climate landscapes.
shrub
Bluebeard
Bluebeard is a compact late-summer shrub smothered in clusters of blue flowers that pollinators adore. It is heat- and drought-tolerant and blooms when most shrubs have finished.
shrub
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
Blanket Flower
A heat-loving, daisy-like perennial in fiery bands of red, orange, and yellow that bloom nonstop all summer. Tough, drought-proof, and beloved by bees and butterflies.
flower
Cucumber
Cucumber is a warm-season vining plant in the gourd family, grown for its long green fruits. It is fast-growing and productive when given heat, sun, and steady moisture.
herb
Russian Sage
An airy, silver-stemmed subshrub topped with hazy clouds of tiny lavender-blue flowers all summer. Aromatic, heat- and drought-proof, and a favorite of bees in hot, sunny gardens.
shrub
Lantana
Lantana is a tough, heat- and drought-tolerant flowering shrub whose rounded clusters of tiny blooms often shift color as they age. It is a magnet for butterflies but is invasive in many warm regions.
shrub
Gaura
Gaura is an airy, long-blooming perennial whose delicate pink or white flowers dance on slender, wiry stems like a cloud of butterflies. It is heat- and drought-tolerant and blooms for months.
flower
Creeping Zinnia
Creeping zinnia is a low, spreading annual smothered in tiny gold-and-black daisy flowers that resemble miniature sunflowers. It is heat- and drought-tolerant, making it ideal for edging, baskets, and groundcover.
flower
Zinnia
Zinnias are fast-growing, heat-loving annuals that produce bold, daisy-like flowers in vivid colors all summer. They are easy from seed, beloved by pollinators, and excellent cut flowers.
flower
Okra
Okra is a heat-loving annual in the mallow family, grown in warm-climate gardens for its showy hibiscus-like flowers and slender, ridged green seed pods. It thrives in hot summers.
herb
Mexican Sunflower
A tall, fast-growing annual prized for its vivid orange-red daisy flowers that are magnets for butterflies and bees. It thrives in heat and poor soil where many other plants struggle.
flower
Melampodium
Melampodium, or butter daisy, is a tough, heat-loving annual that forms neat mounds covered in small golden-yellow daisies all summer. It thrives in hot, humid conditions and is virtually maintenance-free.
flower
Spinach
Spinach is a fast-growing, cool-season leafy green that forms a low rosette of dark green leaves. It grows quickly in cool weather and bolts in heat, so it is best sown in spring and fall.
herb
Annual Bluegrass
A low-growing, light-green annual grass that is one of the most widespread lawn and turf weeds in the world. It forms clumps, seeds prolifically even when mowed short, and turns unsightly in summer heat.
grass
Swiss Chard
Swiss chard is a leafy form of beet grown for its glossy leaves and colorful stalks. Easy, productive and heat- and cold-tolerant, it produces over a long season with cut-and-come-again leaf growth.
herb
Flowering Almond
Flowering almond is a small deciduous ornamental shrub prized for its profuse pink or white pompom-like blossoms that smother the bare branches in early spring. It is grown purely for ornamental display.
shrub
Ponderosa Pine
Ponderosa pine is a tall, drought-hardy evergreen conifer of western North America, known for its long needles, large cones and puzzle-piece bark that smells of vanilla or butterscotch. It is a major western timber tree.
tree
Syngonium Albo
A striking variegated arrowhead plant with arrow-shaped green leaves splashed and marbled in pure white. The bold, unpredictable variegation makes it a coveted collector's houseplant.
houseplant