There are 49 different types of plants in the game; they serve as your line of defence between you and the zombies. Each plant has their own special attributes, stengths and weaknesses that may help or hinder them when battling the zombies. You initially start Adventure Mode with only one plant, but most levels in Adventure mode will reward you with a new type of plant upon victory.
The order of the plants on this page is as they appear in the "Suburban Almanac"; the in-game bio of each plant and zombie.
Peashooter
- Type: Offensive - Pea-shooting
- Damage: Normal
- Cost: 100 sun
- Recharge: Fast
Peashooter is the first plant you obtain in the game. When a zombie enters his lane he will fire a pea every 1.5 seconds at the zombie. Each pea does 20 damage, and it takes 10 peas to kill a basic zombie. While Peashooter is your first plant, he should be phased out in favour of stronger plants later on.
Sunflower
- Type: Sun-producing
- Sun Production: Normal
- Cost: 50 sun
- Recharge: Fast
Sunflower is the first sun-producing plant you obtain, and the primary one in daytime levels. Sunflowers produce extra sun, one unit at a time, allowing you to plant more plants. As a general rule, the player should try to plant at least one column of them, although two to three columns may be used to allow for a wider range of tactical choices.
Cherry Bomb
- Type: Offensive - Instant-kill
- Damage: Kills most zombies instantly
- Cost: 150 sun
- Recharge: Very slow
Cherry Bomb is the first instant-kill plant obtained. After being planted they will expand for 1.2 seconds and then detonate, dealing 1800 damage to all zombies in a 3x3 area around themselves (which will instantly kill most zombies).
Wall-nut
- Type: Defensive
- Toughness: High
- Cost: 50 sun
- Recharge: Slow
Wall-nut is the first defensive plant obtained. While it takes most zombies five to six bites to eat most plants, Wall-nut can absorb 36 bites, his appearance changing based on how much health he has left. He is also the standard ammo in the "Wall-nut Bowling" minigame.
Potato Mine
- Type: Offensive - Instant-kill
- Damage: Kills most zombies instantly
- Cost: 25 sun
- Recharge: Slow
Potato Mine, as his name suggests, is the plant equivalent of the landmine. When he is planted, he will need 14 seconds to arm himself before surfacing, during which he is vulnerable to being eaten. After that, when a zombie steps on him he will detonate, dealing 1800 damage to that zombie and leaving behind a comic-esque "SPUDOW!".
Snow Pea
- Type: Offensive - Pea-shooting
- Damage: Normal, but slows zombie movement
- Cost: 175 sun
- Recharge: Fast
Snow Pea looks similar to Peashooter, but he is blue, and his peas are frozen. When a zombie is hit by a frozen pea it will be slowed to 50% of its original speed and will eat at a slower pace. Additional Snow Peas will not slow down the zombies any further, so only one column should be used.
Chomper
- Type: Offensive - Instant-kill
- Damage: Instantly kills one zombie
- Cost: 150 sun
- Recharge: Fast
Think of Chomper as a re-usable Potato Mine of sorts. He will instantly eat the first zombie that gets close, but he then requires 42 seconds to chew his meal, making him vulnerable to attack. He works best when planted just behind a barrier plant such as Wall-nut. He also works well as a backup or when one zombie has gotten past your main defences.
Repeater
- Type: Offensive
- Damage: Normal (for each pea)
- Cost: 200 sun
- Recharge: Fast
Unlike Peashooter, Repeater fires two peas at a time. This means it will take more time to deploy him initially, but he will prove to be much more useful as the level progresses.
Puff-shroom
- Type: Offensive
- Damage: Normal
- Cost: 0 sun
- Recharge: Fast
- Sleeps during the day
The Puff-shroom is great for front-line night time defence. It's totally free and recharges quickly, so getting a couple of columns of them is a relatively quick thing to do. However, the tradeoff is that the Puff-shroom only has a range of 3 squares, so it needs to be planted in the midfield up to a maximum thickness of 3 columns. You need 3 to take out a cone-head zombie, but you will always lose one in the process. Since they're free, gradually replace them with more powerful units and keep advancing the line of Puff-shrooms forwards. But be warned that they'll fall asleep during the day, so they're only really useful at night.
I only recently became aware of the existence of zombies. Like many fungi, I'd just assumed they were fairy tales or move monsters. This whole experience has been a huge eye-opener for me.
—Puff-shroom
Sun-shroom
- Type: Economic
- Sun Production: Low, then normal
- Cost: 25 sun
- Recharge: Fast
- Sleeps during the day
At night time, you should use Sun-shrooms instead of Sunflowers. The main reason is because sun doesn't drop randomly at night, so you're entirely reliant on your sun-producing plants. With the 50 sun that's usually given at the start of normal matches, you could have produced 2 Sun-shrooms for the same price of one Sunflower. Initially, Sun-shrooms produce only 15 sun, but after about a minute, they switch to producing 25 sun, like a Sunflower.
Fume-shroom
- Type: Offensive
- Cost: 75 sun
- Recharge: Fast
- Sleeps during the day
The Fume-shroom shoots fumes that can deal direct-damage to zombies using protective shields like the Screen-Door Zombie and Ladder Zombie. It has a limited range of only 5 squares, but unlike spores or peas, it is able to attack all zombies within its range. The Fume-shroom is best used as an incremental upgrade for the Puff-shroom.
I was in a dead-end job producing yeast spores for a bakery. Then Puff-shroom, bless 'im, told me about this great opportunity blasting zombies. Now I really feel like I'm making a difference.
—Fume-shroom
Grave Buster
- Type: Special purpose
- Effect: Destroys gravestones, single use.
- Cost: 75 sun
- Recharge: Fast
The Grave Buster is only used during the first night rounds, when gravestones appear on the lawn. During the final wave event, extra zombies rise from the gravestones, plus they take up space that could be used for planting. When planted on a grave, the Grave Buster will destroy the grave, usually leaving behind a silver or occasionally gold coin. However, it takes five seconds to actually take out the grave, so you must defend it from zombies when used.
Hypno-shroom
- Type: Trap
- Cost: 75 sun
- Recharge: Slow
- Sleeps during the day
When eaten the Hypno-shroom will make a zombie turn around and fight for you. "Converted" zombies are easily distinguished (dark blue) and are not fired upon. The stronger the zombie you convert, the more effective it will be. Football player zombies are recommended.
Zombies are our friends. They're badly misunderstood creatures who play a valuable role in our ecology. We can and should do more to bring them round to our way of thinking.
—Hypno-shroom
Scaredy-shroom
- Type: Offensive
- Damage: Normal
- Cost: 25 sun
- Recharge: Fast
- Sleeps during the day
The Scaredy-shroom has a long range, so it is able to fire at zombies from a long way away. However, if the zombies get within 2 squares in front of the Scaredy-shroom it will duck down and stop shooting. These plants are best kept away from zombies to be effective, and they complement the Fume-shroom and Puff-shroom well.
Who's there? Go away, I don't want to see anybody. Unless it's the man from the circus.
—Scaredy-shroom
Ice-shroom
- Type: Instant-effect
- Damage: Very light, immobilises zombies
- Cost: 75 sun
- Recharge: Very slow
- Sleeps during the day
The Ice-shroom doesn't damage zombies as such, rather upon planting, it immediately freezes all the zombies on screen. The zombies will gradually speed up again, but your plants will have ample opportunity to destroy them long before that happens.
Doom-shroom
- Type: Instant-effect
- Damage: Kills most zombies instantly
- Cost: 125 sun
- Recharge: Very slow
- Sleeps during the day
The Doom-shroom is essentially a supercharged cherry bomb. The Doom-shroom has a larger area-of-effect than the Cherry Bomb, but the trade off is that it creates a crater in the square it was planted in, which cannot be planted on. The crater does eventually disappear, but Doom-shroom is mostly for emergencies.
You're lucky I'm on your side. I could destroy everything you hold dear. It wouldn't be hard.
—Doom-shroom
Lily Pad
- Type: Special purpose
- Cost: 25 sun
- Recharge: Fast
- Must be planted in water
The Lily Pad is an aquatic plant that allows you to plant a non-aquatic plant on top. They also hold up zombies slightly, for the zombie must eat the plant on top, then the Lily Pad itself. Potato mines cannot be planted on Lily Pads.
Squash
- Type: Trap
- Damage: Kills most zombies instantly
- Cost: 50 sun
- Recharge: slow
The Squash is a de-facto upgrade for the Potato Mine. Unlike the Potato Mine, the squash is ready to go from the instant it's planted. When a zombie gets within one square (forwards or backwards) of the Squash it will jump and crush the offending zombie. It is able to destroy close-packed clumps of zombies.
Threepeater
- Type: Offensive
- Damage: Normal (each pea)
- Cost: 325 sun
- Recharge: Fast
The Threepeater is a very expensive but powerful unit which fires peas across three lanes. It's the equivalent of a column of three peashooters in the space of one. Placed strategically, just two Threepeaters covers the whole play field.
Tangle Kelp
- Type: Trap
- Damage: Kills zombies instantly
- Cost: 25 sun
- Recharge: Slow
- Must be planted in water
The Tangle Kelp is the Squash of the pool. When a zombie gets near it, it will pull the zombie underwater.
Jalapeno
- Type: Instant-effect
- Damage: Kills most zombies instantly
- Cost: 125 sun
- Recharge: Very slow
The Jalapeno destroys all zombies in one lane, no matter where along the lane it is planted. It will also melt any ice a Zomboni may have made in that lane.
Spikeweed
- Type: Trap
- Damage: 5 damage over time/instant death to vehicles but also itself
- Cost: 100 sun
- Recharge: Fast
The Spikeweed can be used to hit zombies that walk on it, but it doesn't do as much damage against groups of zombies. It is the bane of Zombonis and Catapult zombies.