Discover A-Z flowers, with their names, features, care, and more.
My first anthurium sulked for months before I figured out what it actually wanted. Yellow leaves, no flowers, then a soggy, foul-smelling root system. It turns out almost every anthurium complaint traces back to just a few root causes. Anthurium is the largest genus in the arum family, Araceae, containing more than 800 species native…
Sage belongs to the genus Salvia, part of the mint family, Lamiaceae, alongside basil, rosemary, and thyme. The genus includes more than 900 recognized species, with Mexico alone home to roughly 500 of them. That number alone explains the confusion around the word “sage.” Botanists use it loosely, and it gets applied to plants that…
African violets look simple at first glance. A rosette of fuzzy leaves, a cluster of small flowers, done. Spend a little time inside the hobby, though, and the picture changes fast. Growers currently register thousands of named varieties, built from just a handful of wild ancestors. I have grown a few of these over the…
The letter D covers an unusually wide range of plant life. It spans spring bulbs, tropical vines, desert wildflowers, and orchids from cloud forests. Daffodils alone represent between 50 and 200 recognized species, according to Penn State Extension horticulture records. That single genus could fill half this list on its own. Many D flowers also…
Botanists estimate that thousands of plant genera begin with C, and flowers make up a large share of that group. Part of the reason is Latin. Many scientific plant names carry Latin or Greek roots, and C is a common starting letter in both languages. Think of Campanula, Clematis, and Chrysanthemum. Fun fact: the genus…
The genus Jasminum alone holds more than 200 recognized species of shrubs and climbing vines, according to botanical records from the University of Florida’s Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants and the University of South Florida’s Plant Atlas. Jasmine belongs to the olive family, Oleaceae, and most species are native to the warmer regions of…
The United States produces more than 70% of the world’s peppermint and spearmint supply, grown mainly across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Indiana, and Wisconsin. In 2023, U.S. farmers harvested peppermint from 31,300 acres, producing 2.81 million pounds of oil, according to USDA figures. That output was already down 17% from the prior year, reflecting a longer…
The first time I rubbed a lavender stem between my fingers, I honestly didn’t expect the smell to stay on my hand for hours. That little moment is what got me hooked on this plant, and it turns out there is a lot more to lavender than the purple rows you see in postcards from…
Mums, short for chrysanthemums, are one of the most diverse flowers in cultivation. There are between 150 and 200 known chrysanthemum species, and thousands of cultivars bred from them, according to Clemson University’s horticulture research. If you only know the round, bushy mum from the garden center, you are missing most of the story. This…
Peonies belong to the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. This genus is native to Asia, Europe, and small pockets of western North America. Breeders have spent centuries crossing wild species with cultivated ones. The result is an enormous range of colors, shapes, and growth habits. Penn State Extension explains that peonies…