All 155 flowers, sorted the way you actually look: by colour, by season, or by pet-safety. Tap any flower for its calendar, care, and full guide.
155flowers
7colour families
Jun–Julpeak bloom
42pet-safe
3–11USDA zones
Every flower in this library has its own full page: real photographs, growing
requirements, bloom windows, and the problems gardeners actually run into. Use the
filters to narrow the wall of cards by color, season, sun, or pet safety, or scroll
the grid and let something catch your eye. Each card opens a complete guide.
The list below the catalog answers the questions people bring to it most often:
which flowers Americans look up more than any others, how annuals differ from
perennials, what the classic blooms mean, and which stems hold longest in a vase.
155 flowers, photographed and fact-checked by this site
African Lily (Lily of the Nile)Agapanthus praecoxBold summer perennial sending up tall stalks of vivid blue-violet globes above strappy ev
African violetsSaintpaulia (Streptocarpus sect. Saintpaulia)A fuzzy-leaved windowsill plant that flowers most of the year in bright indirect light, and drowns about as easily as it dries out.
AjugaAjuga reptans and relativesA cheap, fast groundcover for shade that travels on runners, dies back to the crown in cold winters, and rots in warm wet ground.
🐾AlstroemeriaAlstroemeria aureaPeruvian Lily / Lily of the Incas, a tuberous perennial with streaked
AmaryllisHippeastrumLarge-flowered bulb prized for its showy, trumpet-shaped winter blooms
AstilbeAstilbe x arendsii, A. chinensis, A. japonicaA shade perennial grown for feathered plumes over fern-cut foliage, unforgiving about dry soil.
AubrietaAubrieta deltoidea and Aubrieta x cultorumA low evergreen mat in the cabbage family, grown to pour purple over a wall for a few weeks in spring, and cut back hard the moment it finishes.
AzaleaRhododendron spp.Acid-loving spring-flowering shrub in the genus Rhododendron
Baby's breathGypsophila paniculataThe white filler of almost every bouquet, and a garden perennial that two states carry as a noxious weed.
Balloon FlowerPlatycodon grandiflorusA long-lived perennial known for its inflated balloon-like buds that burst open into wide
Bearded IrisIris germanicaA hardy rhizomatous perennial prized for large, often fragrant flowers in late spring
BegoniaBegonia x semperflorensCompact, mounded, fibrous-rooted bedding plant with fleshy stems
BellflowerCampanula persicifoliaElegant spires of open
BellflowerCampanula spp.Cup-shaped blooms in lavender-blue and white that ring the midsummer border with effortle
Bigleaf HydrangeaHydrangea macrophyllaMophead & lacecap shrub; bloom color shifts with soil pH
Bleeding heartLamprocapnos spectabilis (formerly Dicentra spectabilis)The spring shade perennial with arching sprays of pink lockets, which flowers early, then yellows and goes underground for the rest of the summer.
Blue Salvia (Mealycup Sage)Salvia farinaceaUpright violet-blue flower spikes blooming nonstop from early summer to frost
BluebellsHyacinthoides non-scripta, H. hispanica, Mertensia virginicaThree spring plants share the name bluebell: two European bulbs of one genus and an unrelated woodland native of the eastern United States.
BluebonnetsLupinus texensisThe Texas state flower, a winter annual sown in fall that returns only from the seed last spring's plants dropped.
🐾Border ForsythiaForsythia × intermediaBold golden-yellow flowers burst open on bare arching branches before any leaf appears
BottlebrushCallistemonThe Australian evergreen sold across the Sun Belt on a zone number that belongs to the cultivar, bought for red spikes and lost to cold and wet ground.
BougainvilleaBougainvillea glabra and B. spectabilisThorny tropical climber grown for papery bracts in magenta, purple, gold, and white. It flowers hardest in full sun, heat, and dry soil.
BromeliadBromeliaceaeA family of rosette plants that bloom once, hold color for months, and hand the pot on to their pups.
🐾CamelliaCamellia japonicaEvergreen shrub with glossy, leathery dark green leaves and large showy red, pink
Candle larkspurDelphinium elatumStately cottage-garden spire bearing dense racemes of sky-blue to indigo florets on hollo
🐾Canna LilyCanna x generalisBold tropical foliage and vivid summer blooms in fiery reds, oranges
Cape primroseStreptocarpusA southern African houseplant that carries trumpet flowers on wiry stalks for months, sold under a name that three different plants share.
CarnationDianthus caryophyllusClove-scented, double-flowered border perennial in shades of red, pink, white, yellow
CatmintNepeta x faasseniiA low-mounding, aromatic perennial beloved by bees and notorious for deterring deer
CelosiaCelosia argenteaHeat-loving annual with crested, plumed or wheat-shaped heads from summer to the first frost.
Cherry blossomPrunus serrulata and Prunus × yedoensisOrnamental cherry trees grown for a short, heavy spring bloom, opening earlier in the South and later in the North, in white through deep rose.
ChrysanthemumChrysanthemum × morifoliumCompact, clump-forming herbaceous perennial in the daisy family
🐾Christmas CactusSchlumbergeraBrazilian rainforest epiphyte that blooms in early winter and lives for decades.
ClematisClematisClimbing perennial vine in the buttercup family with large showy flowers
Columbine flowerAquilegiaA short-lived woodland perennial with spurred flowers built for long tongues, which holds its place in a bed by seeding itself.
🐾Common JasmineJasminum officinaleThe original perfumer's vine, starry white summer blooms so fragrant a single plant can
ConeflowerEchinacea purpureaA clump-forming North American prairie perennial with daisy-like
🐾Coreopsis (Tickseed)Coreopsis grandiflora / C. lanceolata / C. verticillataA sun-loving
🐾Cornflower (Bachelor's Button)Centaurea cyanusThe electric-blue wildflower of European grain fields, effortlessly self-sows
🐾CosmosCosmos bipinnatusShowy, low-maintenance annual with daisy-like flowers and fine
Crape myrtleLagerstroemia indicaSouthern summer tree with crepe-paper flowers, peeling bark, and sizes running from a knee-high shrub to a thirty-foot canopy.
CrocosmiaCrocosmia × crocosmiiflora / Crocosmia 'Lucifer'Fiery arching wands of scarlet or orange in late summer, a hummingbird magnet that natur
CrocusCrocus spp.Late-winter corm that opens cup flowers at ground level; the autumn kinds include saffron.
Crown of thorns plantEuphorbia miliiThe spiny succulent euphorbia that flowers on a bright windowsill for most of the year, with a sap that earns gloves.
CyclamenCyclamen persicumMediterranean tuber that blooms all winter in a cool room and sleeps all summer.
DaffodilsNarcissus spp.Spring-flowering bulb with trumpet- or cup-and-petal flowers in yellow, white, and orange
DahliaDahlia pinnataBushy tuberous perennial from Mexico bearing showy late-summer-to-frost blooms in nearly
Dancing Lady OrchidOncidiumArching sprays of tiny frilled blooms in warm yellows and burnt oranges that shimmer like
Daphne shrubDaphne odora and relativesA compact evergreen shrub grown for winter scent, rated high severity poison, and undone by wet soil at the roots.
DaylilyHemerocallisTough, adaptable clump-forming perennial whose individual blooms each last a single day
DianthusDianthus spp.Four different plants sell under one name, and the label rarely settles how long the one in your cart will live.
DogwoodCornus florida, C. kousa and hybridsThe native spring tree that flowers on bare branches before its leaves, with red fall color and red berries, plus the later kousa and the hybrids.
EchiumEchiumThe dial follows Echium vulgare, the roadside viper's bugloss; the island spires flower on their own schedule in mild gardens.
Flowering crabappleMalusThe small spring tree whose cultivar name decides whether it keeps its leaves through July, how wide it finishes, and whether the fruit holds or falls.
Flowering quinceChaenomeles speciosa and Chaenomeles japonicaOne of the first shrubs to flower in a cold spring, thorny and tough, and the one people most often confuse with the fruit tree that shares its name.
Forget-Me-NotMyosotis sylvaticaA low-growing spring charmer carpeting borders and woodland edges in clouds of sky-blue
FoxgloveDigitalis purpurea and other DigitalisTall cottage garden spires of spotted, downward facing bells, biennial in most gardens, and toxic in every part.
FreesiaFreesia hybridsA scented South African corm, perennial only in the mildest zones and grown as a spring annual almost everywhere else.
FritillariaFritillariaSpring bulbs in the lily family, sold in two silhouettes, many of them skunky by nature, that rot from the hollow in the top of the bulb.
FuchsiaFuchsia magellanica and Fuchsia x hybridaThe shade plant with hanging lantern flowers, sold under one name as a hardy garden shrub and as a tender basket hybrid.
Garden VerbenaVerbena x hybridaA sun-loving annual workhorse that smothers itself in dense flower clusters from late spr
GardeniaGardenia jasminoidesFragrant white-flowered evergreen shrub for acidic, warm-climate gardens
GentianGentiana acaulis (Stemless/Trumpet Gentian); genus GentianaBrilliant deep-blue trumpet flowers rise from low evergreen mats in late spring, one of
🐾Gerbera DaisyGerbera jamesoniiBright, daisy-form flowers in warm colors above a rosette of fuzzy leaves
GladiolusGladiolus × hortulanusTall summer spikes grown from corms planted in spring, cut for the vase, dug and stored where the ground freezes.
🐾Globe ThistleEchinops ritroSpiky steel-blue spheres on silver stems, a drought-tough perennial that bees mob from J
GoldenrodSolidago canadensis (Canada goldenrod); genus SolidagoA native North American prairie and meadow perennial bearing arching sprays of tiny golde
Great Blue LobeliaLobelia siphiliticaNative wetland perennial bearing dense spikes of vivid blue tubular flowers beloved by bu
🐾HibiscusHibiscus rosa-sinensisTropical Chinese hibiscus prized for large
Honesty plantLunaria annuaA mustard-family biennial grown for the translucent silver discs its seed pods leave behind.
HoneysuckleLonicera (vines and shrubs)Twining vines and shrubs: the Eurasian kinds carry the scent, the red native feeds hummingbirds, and several species sit on state weed lists.
HyacinthHyacinthus orientalisSpring bulb with one dense, intensely fragrant spike; needs a cold winter and sharp drainage.
Indian paintbrushCastillejaA hemiparasitic wildflower whose color sits in leaf-like bracts and whose roots tap a neighbor's roots for water and nutrients.
IrisIrisHardy rhizomatous perennial grown for showy, often fragrant blooms in late spring
JacarandaJacaranda mimosifoliaA fast subtropical shade tree that turns Sun Belt streets purple for a few weeks in late spring, then drops the flowers.
Jack-in-the-pulpitArisaema triphyllumThe hooded eastern woodland perennial that flowers as a male one year and a female the next, and hangs a stalk of red berries after its leaves have gone.
KalanchoeKalanchoe blossfeldianaWinter-flowering succulent houseplant that reblooms only after weeks of long nights.
KerriaKerria japonicaA shade shrub in the rose family, gold in early spring, with green canes through winter and a habit of suckering into a widening clump.
LantanaLantana camaraHeat-defying clusters that shift color as each floret matures
LavenderLavandula angustifoliaAromatic Mediterranean subshrub with grey-green foliage and fragrant purple-blue flower s
Lenten Rose (Hellebore)Helleborus × hybridus (syn. H. orientalis hybrids)Winter-tough shade perennial with nodding
🐾LilacSyringa vulgarisCold-hardy, intensely fragrant spring-blooming shrub prized for its dense purple, white
Lily (true lily)Lilium spp. (genus Lilium; includes Oriental hybrids, Asiatic hybrids, L. longiflorum, L. orientalis 'Stargazer')Summer-blooming bulb; Oriental types richly fragrant
LoropetalumLoropetalum chinenseAn evergreen Southern shrub grown for burgundy foliage and pink fringe flowers, running from almost 6 inches to 20 feet by variety and pruned only after bloom.
LotusNelumbo nucifera and Nelumbo luteaAquatic perennial grown from a tuber in a hole-free tub of heavy clay, with wide flowers held on stiff stems above the water.
Love-in-a-MistNigella damascenaA cool-season annual prized for its spidery, thread-like foliage that envelops sky-blue
LupineLupinus polyphyllus (and Russell hybrids, Lupinus × hybridus)Tall, stately spires of pea-like flowers in every color of the cottage-garden rainbow
🐾Madagascar JasmineStephanotis floribundaIntensely fragrant white bridal vine for conservatories, warm climates
🐾MagnoliaMagnolia grandifloraLarge broadleaf evergreen tree with glossy dark green leaves and very large
MandevillaMandevilla (including Dipladenia types)Tropical trumpet vine grown in a pot across most of the country and carried through winter indoors.
Marguerite daisyArgyranthemum frutescensThe tender Canary Islands daisy sold in spring pots, flowering for months in cool weather and stopping at the first frost.
MarigoldTagetes erectaSun-loving annual with large pompom-like blooms in gold, orange, and yellow on aromatic
Marsh marigoldCaltha palustrisA wetland perennial of the buttercup family, grown at pond edges and in bog gardens for waxy yellow flowers that open very early in spring.
Mexican SunflowerTithonia diversifolia (page main text) / T. rotundifolia (page infographic)A fast-growing warm-season annual bearing vivid orange-red daisy-like flowers that blaze
Mock OrangePhiladelphus coronarius / P. x virginalisA classic fragrant shrub with pure-white
MoonflowerIpomoea albaA night-blooming tropical vine with giant
🐾Moth OrchidPhalaenopsisAn epiphytic tropical orchid grown almost exclusively as a houseplant
Mountain laurelKalmia latifoliaThe eastern evergreen with spring-loaded flowers: acid ground below pH 6.0, afternoon shade in the South, and every part poisonous.
OleanderNerium oleanderTough evergreen Sun Belt shrub with months of pink, white, or red bloom, very little care, and poison in every part.
Orchid cactusEpiphyllum and DisocactusA tropical epiphytic cactus with hand-sized funnel flowers, grown in hanging baskets indoors and given a cool dry winter to set its buds.
OrnithogalumOrnithogalum umbellatum and Ornithogalum dubiumA bulb genus with two lives: a hardy white star that naturalizes outdoors and a tender orange sun star sold potted.
OsteospermumOsteospermum ecklonis and Osteospermum jucundumA spring bedding daisy from southern Africa that flowers hard, stalls through the hottest weeks, and picks up again as the nights cool.
PansiesViola x wittrockianaCool-season bedding plant that blooms in fall, through winter in the South, and again in spring.
Pasque flowerPulsatilla vulgaris, Anemone patens, and Pulsatilla occidentalisAmong the first violet cups on the northern prairie, sold under one name that covers three different plants, and best planted once and left alone.
PassionflowerPassiflora incarnata, P. caerulea, P. edulis and hybridsA tendril climber with a crowned flower, edible fruit on some species, and a hardy native form that dies to the ground and returns from deep roots.
Peace lilySpathiphyllumTropical houseplant with a white spathe held above dark glossy leaves, kept indoors for its flowers and for slumping visibly the moment it needs water.
PeonyPaeonia lactifloraA clump-forming herbaceous perennial prized for large
🐾PetuniaPetunia x hybridaFree-flowering, often fragrant warm-season bedding and container annual
PierisPieris japonicaA slow broadleaf evergreen for acid soil and part shade, grown for its spring bells and its red new growth, and poisonous if eaten.
PlumeriaPlumeria rubra and Plumeria obtusaTropical tree grown in pots across the Sun Belt and well north of it, bare all winter, then waxy scented pinwheel flowers through the warm months.
PoinsettiaEuphorbia pulcherrimaMexican shrub whose winter color is leaves, not petals; the holiday pot of the season.
PoppyPapaverGenus of about 100 herbaceous annuals and perennials grown for showy, papery
Pussy willowSalix discolor and Salix capreaFast-growing wetland willow grown for the silver catkins that open on male plants before the leaves.
RanunculusRanunculus asiaticusPersian buttercup, prized for tightly ruffled, rose-like
RedbudCercis canadensisSmall native tree that flowers on bare branches and the trunk before its heart-shaped leaves open, planted for early color and known for a short life.
RhododendronRhododendron (large-leaved evergreen species and hybrids)Broadleaf evergreen shrub for acid soil and part shade, opening dense trusses of bell-shaped flowers in spring and holding leathery leaves through winter.
🐾RoseRosaFragrant, full-sun garden shrub grown for its iconic blooms in nearly every color.
Russian SageSalvia yangii (syn. Perovskia atriplicifolia)Airy silver-stemmed perennial smothered in lavender-blue spires from midsummer to fall
SaxifrageSaxifragaOne name over an Arctic wildflower, a rock garden cushion and a shade houseplant, held together by rosettes and by a need for water that leaves fast.
🐾Scarlet SageSalvia coccineaA hummingbird magnet bearing brilliant red tubular blooms from early summer until frost
ScillaScilla sibericaThe earliest blue bulb in the spring garden, easy to plant and hard to remove, read by gardeners as either a carpet or a problem.
SedumHylotelephiumRocky-hillside perennial that stands tallest on lean ground and collapses under kindness.
Shasta DaisyLeucanthemum x superbumClassic white-petaled perennial with golden yellow centers
🐾SnapdragonAntirrhinum majusCool-season garden annual with tall spikes of two-lipped snapping flowers in nearly every
SnowdropGalanthus nivalisA low-growing late-winter to early-spring bulb bearing solitary
SnowflakeLeucojum aestivumA spring bulb hung with green tipped white bells that takes damp ground most bulbs refuse.
Stock flowerMatthiola incanaThe clove-scented spring spike sold as stock, hardy only where winters stay mild and finished by summer heat above 80 F.
🐾SunflowerHelianthus annuusTall, fast-growing annual with large daisy-like flower heads that follow the sun
🐾Sweet AlyssumLobularia maritimaA low, mat-forming annual prized for dense mounds of tiny
Sweet violetViola odorataThe fragrant European violet behind old perfume and candied flowers, and the scentless native that spreads through American lawns.
Tiger LilyLilium lancifoliumA vigorous, easy-to-grow Asian lily bearing pendulous
TrilliumTrilliumThe three-petaled woodland wildflower that carries a whole year of food on three bracts, which is why a picked flower costs the plant its season.
ViburnumViburnum spp. (genus; principal species include V. opulus, V. carlesii, V. x burkwoodii, V. plicatum, V. dentatum)A four-season genus of 150+ species valued for fragrant spring flower clusters
VincaCatharanthus roseus and Vinca minorTwo plants sold as vinca: a sun and heat annual, and an evergreen shade groundcover that spreads. The annual is listed toxic to pets.
Virginia BluebellsMertensia virginicaSky-blue spring ephemeral that colonizes woodland floors and stream banks before vanishin
WallflowerErysimum cheiri, also listed as Cheiranthus cheiriThe scented spring bedding plant that is grown as a biennial, plus the named mauve perennials sold under the same word.
Water lilyNymphaeaA pond perennial rooted in soil, with floating pads and flowers that open by day, in hardy types for cold water and tropical types for warm.
Wax flowerChamelaucium uncinatumThe Australian myrtle family shrub behind the filler in mixed bouquets, undemanding on dry sand in full sun, often short lived where summers are humid.
WeigelaWeigela floridaA spring shrub that sets next year's buds by late summer, so the cut that costs the flowers is the one made in fall.
Winter aconiteEranthis hyemalis and Eranthis cilicicaA tuberous woodland perennial that opens flat yellow cups at ankle height in late winter and is fully dormant by summer.
WisteriaWisteria sinensis, W. floribunda, W. frutescens, W. macrostachyaWoody twining vine that hangs long clusters of purple, blue, pink or white flowers in mid spring.
YarrowAchillea millefoliumA tough, aromatic perennial with flat-topped flower clusters in a wide color range
🐾ZinniaZinnia elegansHeat-loving annual cut flower in the daisy family, prized for prolific
By the numbers
The most popular flowers in America
Popularity here is measured, not guessed: the ranking follows how many times readers opened each flower's encyclopedia article across the last full year. Ten flowers stand clearly above the rest, and every one of them has a full guide in the library above.
readers last yearThe fragrance perennial that wants lean soil and full sun.
Three clocks
Annual, perennial, or biennial
Every flower in the catalog lives on one of three clocks, and knowing which one you are buying prevents the most common disappointment in gardening: expecting a plant to come back when it was never going to.
Annuals
One season, start to finish. They sprout, flower, seed, and die inside a single year, which is why they bloom so hard for so long: marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, celosia, sunflowers. Replant every spring.
Perennials
The long term residents. They return from the same roots for years and trade a shorter bloom window for permanence: peonies, roses, daylilies, sedum, hostas. Plant once, divide when crowded.
Biennials
The two year plan. Leaves the first year, flowers and seed the second, then done: foxglove, hollyhock, sweet William. The trick is sowing two years running so they flower every summer.
Language of flowers
Flower names and meanings
The language of flowers is older than any catalog, and it still decides what lands in sympathy bouquets and wedding arches. Twelve meanings people look up most, each with a full story behind the link, and the complete list at all flower meanings.
The return of happiness, sweetness, and humility, and a May Day tradition in France.
Vase life
Best flowers for bouquets
Vase life separates a bouquet that survives the week from one that quits by Wednesday. The figures below come from measured trials and the growing guides in this library rather than from wishful labels.
Chrysanthemums, asters, sedum, goldenrod, celosia, pansies planted for the cool season.
Winter
Poinsettia, Christmas cactus, cyclamen, kalanchoe indoors; hellebore and camellia where winters stay mild.
Nothing matches those filters yet.
Compare
Put two or three side by side
Torn between a few favourites? Line them up and see the differences at a glance.
Pick at least two flowers to see them side by side.
The science of flowers
Why flowers look, smell, and bloom the way they do
The Amen of Nature is always a flower. Oliver Wendell Holmes
A garden looks like it is showing off for us. It is not. Almost every flower is really an advertisement, aimed at one tiny customer: the bee, bird, moth, or fly that carries its pollen. The colour, the smell, the shape, even the hour it opens, are all there to catch one kind of visitor. A few flowers even fake the smell of rotting meat to trick flies. Others hide glowing patterns only a bee can see. Once you know who a flower is for, you can almost read it like a sign.
This is a big part of the reason there are so many different types of flowers. There are thousands of pollinators, and each one likes its own colours, smells, and shapes, so over millions of years flowers spread out into countless forms to match them. The huge range of types of flowers in this guide is, in part, a huge range of customers.
The colours of flowers
Colour comes first, because it is the first thing a pollinator sees. A flower builds its colour from a few natural pigments: one family for reds, pinks and purples, another for yellows and oranges. White flowers work differently, scattering the light back rather than using a white pigment, the way snow looks white. Colour is also a message aimed at a particular eye. To a bee, red looks almost black, while birds see red beautifully, so a bright red flower is usually built for a bird, and a blue or purple one is usually calling a bee. Tap a colour to see what it is made of and who it is really for.
The hardest colour for a plant to make, so true blue is rare and a real prize. Many flowers we call blue are really violet. Who it is really forBees see blue and violet better than we do, so a true blue stands out to them. See blue flowers in the library →
A mix of the same red and blue pigments. Common and easy for a plant to make, even though it was once the most costly colour for dyers. Who it is really forVery easy for a bee to see, which is why so many bee favourites, from lavender to alliums, are purple. See purple flowers in the library →
To a bee this looks almost black, but to a bird it shines. In the wild a true red flower is often a bird's flower. Garden reds like roses and tulips were bred for our eyes, and bees visit them happily. Who it is really forBirds see red clearly where bees barely see it, so red is often a flower for hummingbirds. See red flowers in the library →
A softer, gentler red, and one of the most common colours in any garden. Who it is really forA broad, friendly signal that draws a wide range of insect visitors. See pink flowers in the library →
Made from carotenoids, the same pigments as carrots and autumn leaves. Warm and easy to spot against green. Who it is really forStands out strongly against leaves, and draws both bees and butterflies. See orange flowers in the library →
The easiest colour for a plant to make, so it is everywhere, and the baseline the rarer colours are built around. Who it is really forBees head straight for yellow, and many flowers add ultraviolet markings only a bee can see. See yellow flowers in the library →
White comes from petals scattering the light, not from a white pigment, and many whites still carry ultraviolet patterns a bee can see. Who it is really forMany white flowers open at night and lean on scent, to draw moths when pale petals show up best. See white flowers in the library →
Why true blue is so rare
Fewer than one flower in ten is truly blue, and there is a good reason. Plants have no easy way to make blue. A flower has to take a reddish pigment and tune it just right, lining up the acidity, a few helper molecules, and a touch of metal all at once. Nudge any of it off and you get purple instead. You can watch it happen with a hydrangea: it turns blue in soil that frees up a metal called aluminium, and pink in soil that locks it away.
Why some flowers smell and others do not
Smell is the second invitation, for when colour is not enough, and it is timed to the visitor. Light, sweet scents drift through the day for bees and butterflies. Heavy night perfume pours from pale flowers like jasmine and moonflower, guiding moths through the dark. A few flowers pull a nasty trick: the giant rafflesia and the starfish-shaped stapelia smell like rotting meat on purpose, so flies turn up expecting a meal and leave dusted in pollen. Bird flowers usually carry little scent, because birds hunt by sight and barely use their noses.
Why flowers are shaped so differently
A flower's shape is a lock, and only the right visitor holds the key. A long, thin tube hides its nectar at the very bottom, where only a hummingbird's beak or a moth's long tongue can reach. A wide, open flower is the opposite, an easy landing pad for a bee or a beetle. Butterflies like a flat cluster they can stand on while they sip. The shape sets which visitor can feed, and saves the reward for the one that will carry the pollen on.
The hidden patterns only bees can see
Look closely and many flowers have lines or a dark centre pointing straight at the nectar, like the lights along a runway. The strangest part: some of these patterns are invisible to us, yet they glow under ultraviolet light, which bees can see and we cannot. A flower that looks plain yellow to you might show a bold target only a bee can read.
When flowers bloom
Timing is a signal too. A flower gains nothing by opening when its pollinator is asleep, or when every other plant is in bloom and the bees are spoilt for choice, so flowers spread across the calendar. Tap a season.
After a long winter, light and warmth come back, but the trees have not grown their leaves yet, so the ground is still bright. Spring bulbs are ready: they stored energy underground all winter, and now they shoot up and flower fast to grab the light and meet the first hungry bees before the leaves close overhead. That is why spring feels like everything opens at once.
The long, warm, busy season, with the most daylight and the most insects on the wing. With so many pollinators about, more flowers bloom now than at any other time, and they put on their biggest, boldest show to stand out from the crowd.
As days shorten and the air cools, most flowers are finishing and fewer pollinators are left. The late bloomers use that: they offer one of the last big meals of the year, with far less competition, and help bees and butterflies stock up before the cold.
Almost nothing flowers in the cold, and that is exactly the opening a few tough plants take. By flowering now they have any passing pollinator almost to themselves. Many are sweetly scented so they can still be found on a grey day.
DaffodilsAnthuriumBird of ParadiseCamelliaLenten Rose (Hellebore)Moth OrchidSnowdrop
For beesopen blue, purple and yellow flowers (lavender, cornflower, sunflower)
For hummingbirdsred, tube-shaped flowers (salvia, fuchsia)
For butterfliesbright, flat landing pads (zinnia, lantana)
For moths, at nightwhite, sweet-scented flowers (jasmine, moonflower)
Inside a flower
Tap any part to see what it does.
Petal The coloured part you notice first. Its whole job is to be seen, pulling a visitor in with colour and scent.
Sepal The small green leaf under the petals. The sepals wrapped and protected the flower while it was still a tight bud.
Stamen The male part, made of an anther on a thin stalk called a filament.
Anther The dusty tip that makes and holds the pollen.
Filament The thin stalk that holds the anther up.
Stigma The sticky tip at the centre. A grain of pollen has to land here for a seed to start.
Style The slender column that carries pollen down from the stigma to the ovary.
Ovary The chamber at the base, where seeds grow after pollination. In time it can swell into a fruit.
Ovules The tiny specks inside the ovary. Once fertilised, each one becomes a seed.
Receptacle The slightly swollen top of the stem, where all the parts are attached.
Stem Holds the flower up and pipes water and food to it.
A cutaway through a typical flower, from the protective sepals to the seeds forming inside the ovary.
For all their variety, most flowers are built to the same plan. The same handful of parts appears, in some form, in the rose on a table and the weed in a pavement crack. Tap any part to see what it does.
Nature loves exceptions: these are strong tendencies, not strict rules. Plenty of flowers welcome every visitor, some are pollinated by the wind, and a few make their colours with different pigments entirely.
Odd corners
Surprising flowers
Some blooms are worth knowing simply because they break the rules. Every fact below is checked against botanical sources such as Kew and Britannica.
Flower of the dayLavender
Lavender takes its name from the Latin for washing, because the Romans scented their baths with it.
The Rafflesia opens the largest single flower on Earth, up to a metre across and smelling of raw meat. The titan arum grows taller still, but its tower is a cluster of many tiny flowers, not one bloom.
Source: Kew
Beauty from a virus
The flame-streaked tulips that fuelled the 1600s craze did not get their patterns from breeding. A virus was quietly interfering with the petals and their pigment.
Source: Britannica
A rose worth millions
David Austin spent about fifteen years and a reported three million pounds breeding a single apricot rose, Juliet, before it ever reached a florist.
Source: Press reports
The flower that turns to glass
The skeleton flower has white petals that become almost transparent when they get wet, then turn white again as they dry.
Source: Botanical sources
The crash that mostly was not
Historians who went looking found that tulip mania never really bankrupted Holland. The tales of ruined merchants were largely a later moral fable.
Source: Smithsonian
A moth ordered in advance
Seeing an orchid with a remarkably long nectar spur, Darwin predicted a moth with a matching tongue must exist. It was found decades after his death.
Source: Kew
The most expensive harvest
Saffron is the three hand-picked stigmas of a crocus flower. It takes around 150,000 blooms to fill a single kilogram.
Source: University extension
Smaller than a grain of rice
Watermeal, a rootless floating plant, is the smallest flowering plant in the world, and it bears the smallest fruit of any plant too.
Source: Library of Congress
Questions
Frequently asked
What are the 10 most popular flowers?
Measured by how often readers opened each flower's encyclopedia article over the last year: rose, lily, hydrangea, chrysanthemum, peony, daffodil, tulip, sunflower, dahlia, and lavender. The ranked list with a line on each sits just below the catalog.
What are 25 popular flowers?
Take the ten above and add the next tier gardeners plant most: daisies, orchids, carnations, irises, marigolds, geraniums, petunias, zinnias, cosmos, asters, snapdragons, pansies, begonias, gladiolus, and camellias. Every one has its own page in the catalog.
Are there really 100 types of flowers?
There are tens of thousands of flowering species, so a list of 100 names is easy to write and shallow by design. This library holds 155 flowers because each entry is a full guide with photographs, growing data, and problem sections rather than a name with one sentence.
What is the prettiest flower?
There is no measurable answer, but reader behavior points somewhere: roses, peonies, and dahlias are the three most visited ornamental pages in this library, and florists report the same three dominating wedding requests.
What is the rarest flower?
Among garden plants, true blue is the rarest trait: fewer than one in ten flowering species can build blue pigment, which is why delphiniums and gentians stand out. Among all flowers, corpse flowers bloom once in several years, and the Juliet rose took fifteen years and a reported three million pounds to breed.
What flowers are safe for cats and dogs?
Roses, sunflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, and asters are safe picks, while lilies are dangerous enough to cats that a single brush with pollen is an emergency. Use the pet safe filter at the top of the catalog to see every safe flower at once.
Go deeper
Two more ways in
This library is about the flowers themselves. When you want to know what they say, or what to send and when, these are the next steps.
Written and maintained by the YourFlowersGuide editorial team, edited by Vladimir, and reviewed for horticultural accuracy. Every flower links to a full growing guide with deeper care notes, and the safety information is sourced from the ASPCA.
