Plant Encyclopedia
Search and identify 1,000+ plants, flowers, trees, and succulents — with care, light, water, and how to tell them apart.
Common Sunflower
The common sunflower is a fast-growing annual famous for its large golden flower heads that track the sun; it is grown worldwide as an ornamental and oilseed crop.
flower
Sunflower
A fast-growing annual famous for its large golden flower heads that track the sun while young. Native to North America, it is grown for ornament and as a cut flower.
flower
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
False Sunflower
False sunflower is a tough native perennial covered in golden-yellow daisy-like blooms all summer. It resembles a true sunflower but returns reliably year after year.
flower
Common Mallow
A sprawling annual or biennial with rounded, scalloped leaves, small pinkish-white flowers, and flat round seed pods that resemble tiny wheels of cheese. It is a common garden and lawn weed.
herb
Sneezeweed
Sneezeweed is a cheerful late-summer perennial bearing masses of daisy-like flowers with raised central cones in warm shades of yellow, orange, red and bronze. Despite its name, it doesn't cause sneezing from pollen; the name comes from old use of its dried leaves as snuff.
flower
Cosmos
Cosmos is a fast, easygoing annual with daisy-like flowers and feathery foliage that blooms profusely all summer and attracts pollinators.
flower
Lilac
Lilacs are hardy deciduous shrubs cherished for their intensely fragrant spring flower clusters in shades of purple, lavender, pink, and white. They are long-lived and easy to grow in cold climates.
shrub
Freesia
Freesia is a South African bulb prized for its arching sprays of richly perfumed, funnel-shaped flowers in a rainbow of colors, popular as a cut flower.
flower
Medlar Tree
The medlar is an ancient, gnarled deciduous tree in the rose family, grown for its large white spring flowers, twisted branches, and distinctive russet-brown fruit with a wide open calyx. Hardy and low-maintenance.
tree
Cumin
Cumin is a small annual herb in the carrot family grown for its seeds, a widely used culinary spice. It needs a long, hot, sunny season to ripen.
herb
Quince Tree
A small deciduous tree bearing fragrant, golden, pear-shaped fruit, also valued for its lovely white-to-pink spring blossom and twisted, gnarled form.
tree
Baby's Breath
Baby's breath is an airy perennial producing clouds of tiny white or pink flowers on wiry, branching stems. It's a florist's staple as a delicate filler in bouquets and a soft accent in the garden.
flower
Garlic
Garlic is a pungent bulbous member of the onion family grown worldwide as a garden and field crop, recognized by its strap-like foliage and segmented underground bulb.
herb
Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle is a vigorous climbing shrub bearing tubular, intensely fragrant flowers that draw bees, moths and hummingbirds. It's a classic for covering arbors, fences and walls with scent.
shrub
Stinging Nettle
Stinging nettle is a tall perennial herb covered in tiny hollow hairs that release an irritating fluid on contact, producing a brief stinging sensation. It has a long history as a fiber and dye plant.
herb
Maidenhair Fern
A graceful fern with airy, fan-shaped fronds on glossy black stems. Stunning but demanding, it needs constant humidity and consistently moist soil.
fern
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
Ninebark
A rugged North American deciduous shrub named for its peeling, layered bark. Modern cultivars offer striking burgundy, gold, or copper foliage plus clusters of white-to-pink spring flowers.
shrub
Morning Glory
Morning glory is a fast-growing twining vine whose trumpet-shaped flowers unfurl at dawn and close by afternoon, quickly covering fences and trellises.
flower
Hollyhock
Hollyhock is a towering cottage-garden biennial bearing tall spires of large, saucer-shaped flowers. Its dramatic height makes it a classic backdrop for fences and walls.
flower
Hyssop
An aromatic, semi-evergreen Mediterranean shrub-herb in the mint family, bearing spikes of deep blue flowers loved by bees.
herb
Juniper
A tough, evergreen coniferous shrub (some species small trees) with needle-like or scale-like foliage and blue berry-like cones. Junipers range from low groundcovers to upright forms and thrive in poor, dry soils.
shrub
Fig Tree
The common fig is a deciduous Mediterranean tree grown for its large lobed leaves and distinctive fruiting form. Easy to grow and forgiving, it is one of the oldest cultivated trees and thrives in warm gardens and containers.
tree