Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
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
Ponytail Palm
Not a true palm but a succulent with a swollen, water-storing trunk and a fountain of long, curly leaves. Its bulbous base gives it the nickname elephant's foot.
succulent
Bachelor's Button
Bachelor's button, or cornflower, is an easy cottage-garden annual famous for its intense true-blue, fringed flowers that are excellent for cutting.
flower
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
Bottlebrush Tree
An evergreen Australian shrub or small tree whose cylindrical red flower spikes look exactly like bottle brushes. The nectar-rich blooms draw birds and pollinators.
shrub
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.
herb
Zucchini
Zucchini is a prolific summer squash in the gourd family, grown as a bushy warm-season annual. A single healthy plant produces vigorously through the summer.
herb
Cantaloupe
Cantaloupe is a warm-season trailing vine in the gourd family, grown for its round, netted melons. It needs long, hot summers and plenty of sun.
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
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
Fothergilla
Fothergilla is a native deciduous shrub offering fragrant white bottlebrush flowers in spring and spectacular orange-red-yellow foliage in fall. It is a low-fuss, multi-season ornamental.
shrub
Foxtail Pine
Foxtail Pine is a long-lived, high-elevation pine of California, named for its dense bottlebrush-like foliage. A close relative of the bristlecone pines, it survives harsh alpine conditions for over a thousand years.
tree
Spanish Fir
Spanish Fir is a rare Mediterranean conifer from the mountains of southern Spain, prized for its dense, radially arranged blue-green needles that give branches a bottlebrush look. It is one of the few firs adapted to hot, dry summers.
tree
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
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
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