High-tech gardening

Flower & Garden Magazine, Dec, 1995 by Julie L. Favetti, James K. Lewis

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A perennial that will thrive in a shaded, poorly drained location? Does your entire landscape need a facelift? Are you a new homeowner facing an empty yard? The answers to your garden design dilemmas are as near as your home computer.

Today's technology combines personal computers with sophisticated computer programs, or software, to make planning your ideal garden easier. Computer software products give do-it-yourself gardeners quality advice at a fraction of what you might spend for a landscape architect. And they,re fun to use as well. I recently tested some of the newest garden-related software; here's what I found.

LANDSCAPE DESIGN

Key Home Gardener is a thorough landscape design product that assists in drawing your property, assessing its needs and designing a complete landscaping plan. Each phase of the design is drawn on separate "layers." These layers act like transparencies, allowing you to see only one layer at a time or as many layers as you want. Sketch a site map on the bottom layer and the site inventory on the layer above. Use other layers to show site analysis, site use, years zero through six, or a sprinkler system.

Although this program can be difficult to learn, it is a full-featured designing tool and well worth the; time it takes to master it. Use it to plan flower beds, paths, an intricate sprinkler system, tree and shrub placement, patios and decks, storage areas, lawns and more. Create a realistic landscape drawing using the plant database and symbol libraries. Age plants for a peek at what the landscape will look like years down the road. Key Home Gardener also includes a handy materials list for the finished design.

Gardeners who want to add more trees and shrubs to their landscapes can find guidance from Design Your Own Home - Landscape. This program helps to integrate new plantings into an existing landscape. Draw the design from the top view and the software will automatically create the front, back and side elevation views. Age the plants to their mature size to decide proper placement and spacing. This program has around 50 plant symbols to be used in drawing the design. Handy reference cards provide the keyboard shortcuts for placing plants and hardscape symbols on the screen.

Adding a pool or deck to your landscape? Expert's Landscape Design takes into account the placement of patios, pools, spas and fountains as well as trees, shrubs and flowers. Create designs that include lawn furniture, barbecues, playground equipment, planters, outdoor lighting and more. This program lacks a plant database and aging feature, but its many symbols let you accurately represent the entire hardseape in your drawing. Then use the plant symbols to place plants where they will help cover up eyesores, provide pnvacy and create focal points.

Key Home Gardener is the best landscape design program of the three but many computer novices might find it difficult to master. Landscape Design and Design Your Own Home- Landscape are easier to use but lack a few helpful features. To compare these products or to order, see Table 1.

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FLOWER GARDEN DESIGN

Computer software can help when attention focuses on flowers, too. FLOWERscape imitates a real flower-gardening environment with grass, tools and an on-line gardening reference book. Pick the background for the garden (picket fence, stone, brick, stucco, etc.) then use the spade to "dig" out the planting area. Use the book to select suitable bulbs, shrubs, vines, perennials, annuals or groundcovers. Each entry in the book has a picture and information detailing preferred sun exposure, flowering season, planting season, mature height, optimum pH level and plant uses. More than 100 plants are represented and FLOWERscape can display the garden design in any month of the year. It also provides a planting and flowering guide for the completed design.

Mum's the Word Plus contains a database of more than 600 plants: shrubs, vegetables, vines, herbs, ferns, grasses, groundcovers and trees. Although you can use this program for landscape design, its features make designing flower beds a snap. Search for the ideal plant and create a garden design with the available symbols. Add new plants to the database or edit the information on the plants that are already available. Search for plants by specifying hardiness zone, height, plant type (fern, herb, shrub, etc.), plant class (annual, perennial, etc.), color, blooming period, soil characteristics and more.

Both products can help to plan beautiful all-season flower gardens. FLOWERscape provides color pictures of the plants and ages the garden for every month of the year. Although Mum's the Word Plus does not show pictures of the selected plants, it is a powerful landscape and garden design tool when combined with a good reference book. See Table 2 for a comparison of their plant databases, features and prices.

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PLANT REFERENCE

Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening combines a great gardening reference book with quality photos and sound. More than 950 plants are listed with information about the size and color of blooms, mature size of plant, type of foliage, varieties, soil and sun requirements, when to plant, how to propagate and more. Fourteen plant categories are included for assistance with perennials, herbs, bulbs, fruits and nuts, annuals, vegetables, roses, trees and more.