Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Calla Lily
Calla lilies are elegant plants grown for their sculptural, trumpet-shaped flower bracts in white and rich jewel tones above arrow-shaped leaves. Despite the name, they are not true lilies.
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Lily
True lilies are summer-blooming bulbs with large, often fragrant, trumpet-shaped flowers on tall stems. They are easy garden perennials prized in borders and as cut flowers.
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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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Peace Lily
The peace lily is a popular flowering houseplant with glossy dark green leaves and elegant white hooded blooms. It thrives in low light and even tells you when it's thirsty by dramatically drooping.
houseplant
Lily of the Valley
A low, spreading shade groundcover with arching sprays of tiny, intensely fragrant white bells in spring. Beautiful and beloved, with broad glossy leaves rising from creeping rhizomes.
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Canna Lily
Canna lily is a bold tropical perennial grown for its large paddle-shaped leaves and vivid flower spikes. Despite the name it's not a true lily, and its rhizomes are lifted in cold climates.
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Gladiolus
Gladiolus is a tall summer bulb that sends up dramatic spikes of funnel-shaped flowers in nearly every color, a staple of cutting gardens and floral arrangements.
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Sourwood
Sourwood is a graceful native North American tree with drooping clusters of white lily-of-the-valley-like summer flowers and outstanding scarlet fall foliage.
tree
Hosta
The premier foliage perennial for shade, grown for bold mounds of ribbed leaves in greens, blues, golds, and variegated patterns. Lavender or white flower spikes are a summer bonus.
houseplant
Amaryllis
The popular indoor amaryllis is a bulb (genus Hippeastrum) that produces towering stalks topped with huge, trumpet-shaped flowers, often forced for winter bloom. True Amaryllis is a separate South African genus.
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Red Hot Poker
Red hot poker is a bold perennial sending up torch-like spikes of tubular flowers that grade from fiery red at the top to yellow below. Its grassy clumps and dramatic blooms attract hummingbirds and bees.
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Japanese Andromeda
Japanese andromeda is an elegant evergreen shrub with cascading clusters of urn-shaped flowers in early spring and colorful new growth. It pairs beautifully with azaleas and rhododendrons.
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Flamingo Flower
A tropical plant famous for its glossy, heart-shaped red 'flowers' (actually spathes) with a protruding spadix. Long-lasting blooms make it a popular gift plant.
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Dumb Cane
Dumb cane is a popular tropical houseplant with large, variegated cream-and-green leaves. It grows easily into a bushy, upright specimen and tolerates typical indoor conditions.
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Desert Rose
The desert rose is a striking caudex succulent with a swollen trunk and clusters of showy, trumpet-shaped pink to red flowers. It is widely grown as a bonsai-like ornamental.
succulent
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
Nasturtium
Nasturtiums are easygoing annuals with round, lily-pad leaves and bright spurred flowers in fiery reds, oranges, and yellows. They are a cheerful, low-fuss choice for beds, baskets, and borders.
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Angelonia
Often called summer snapdragon, angelonia produces upright spikes of orchid-like flowers that thrive in heat and humidity all season without deadheading.
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Spider Plant
The spider plant is a fast-growing, easy-care houseplant with arching variegated leaves and dangling baby plantlets called 'spiderettes.' It is adaptable and one of the best plants for beginners.
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.
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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
Dianthus
Dianthus, commonly called pinks or carnations, are flowering plants known for their fringed, clove-scented blooms in shades of pink, red, white and bicolor. They are classic cottage-garden favorites that bloom prolifically in cool weather.
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Anemone
Anemones, also called windflowers, are graceful perennials and bulbs that produce delicate, cup- or daisy-shaped flowers in spring or fall. Japanese anemones in particular bring valuable late-season color to shady borders.
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