How to plan a garden without the help of an architect?

How to plan a garden plot: 10 simple and stylish solutions

The advice is often found in articles about landscaping site design: “Choose a style that suits your personal taste.” It’s easy to speculate about the tastes of an experienced gardener when you understand plants. But what’s a beginner to do? We’ve frankly included a few simple and versatile garden planters that will help plan a plot and fit almost any condition, like Olivier for New Year’s Eve

Learn to understand light. So you can’t skip the material on the requirements for planting educational plants, make a calendar of care, care, and develop your outlook on country life and your gardening opportunities.

Ready e-MADE recommendations will help you design the garden in the first approximation: the initial work with the plot, planting seedlings, the breakdown of flower beds and a network of paths – it is very important to study these issues in the preparatory stage. However, there are as many ways to interpret these instructions as there are gardeners and gardeners. After all, the garden is a personal choice.

garden planning ideas

1 simple color palette makes the garden look bigger

A great way to make a garden space look bigger is to keep the number of colors used to a minimum. At first, you can do without flower beds at all!

All shades of needles, shrub greenery and trees work well together, highlighting any seasonal color combination you like. To soften the geometric shapes of the landscape, arrange a patio, lawn and level walkway.

2 shaded corners create intrigue

Woodland plants, or, as they’re also called, natural looking shade creates a wonderfully tranquil atmosphere that looks especially good on patios and terraces. Unstable astilbes, ferns, honeysuckle, lilies and hostas make up the bulk of the plantings. Don’t forget to add varieties with mottled blue, white and golden leaves to give the plantings even more texture. Try planting a lighter colored hosta in a spot where the sun will penetrate and observe its glow. Green contrasts particularly well with darker colors of trees, flooring, gravel and kraft reflection.

Astilbe in a shade flower bed (photo and garden author: Margarita Alexeeva)

3 Traditional Home.

Clean lines and symmetry can help turn a plot of land into a garden in a modern style. As a sample, let’s take a monochromatic natural-looking garden: minimal use of color, strict lines, beautifully trimmed shrubs.

The plants reflect strict linear geometry and textural relief, both when viewed from inside and above. With the exception of pruning and regular trimming, very little maintenance is required to keep this space fresh and attractive.

Garden 7 Sculpture of the Coptic Family

Try to avoid bright “grandmotherly” looking plants at the entrance if you want your garden to look modern. It’s not common now to completely block the view of the house from the street, but that’s a matter of taste. After all, one day of hydrangeas and thuja will outplay everything. Read about the natural-looking garden created for Olga and Ilya Kopytova by designer Elena Konstantinova in

4 Nursery along the fence

Narrow side spaces are difficult to design. In this small garden, Natalia Kitova solved this problem in several ways. Using the same tones of the fence as the house, garden room walls were created. The structure of the plantings makes it easy to identify paths that are uncomfortable to walk on. Damaged selected greenery prevents the eye from immediately embracing the garden.

Beautiful and well-developed lawns help the optical irapis, which makes the space look wider than it really is.

5 A drought-resistant garden.

Ограниченный доступ к воде не означает, что у вас не может быть настоящего сада. Ваш гуру в этом случае — Бет Шатто, о ее саде и подходе к созданию цветников в сложных условиях вы можете узнать в этой статье Ирины Юрьевны Бочковой >>>>. Many plants can thrive in arid areas and withstand occasional droughts.

Aside from the plants, the choice of contrasting light stone cladding only makes the limited colors in Beth Chatto’s garden even brighter.

Succulents are the first to come to mind, but there are also drought-tolerant shrubs, catnip, corn, rosemary and sage.

Chatto’s garden paree suggests the use of plants that don’t take root

6 classic perennial border

A great tip was formulated by landscape architect Alexander Sapelin on creating a classic long border of perennials. You can learn how to plan a classic mixed border in Alexander Sapelin’s material Experiment with shrub foliage interspersed with flowering plants as a background and progressive plant height from low foreground to background. With repeating plant rhythms, you accentuate style.

Mixboard, a collection of hydrangeas and a sea of phlox in Elena Malysheva’s garden

7 Cottage Style.

Start a cozy garden at the front of the house with a wide gravel driveway. Between the tiles, you can settle groundcover plants, such as fragrant thyme. If you plant tall shrubs near the walls, the area will appear larger than it really is.

They coordinate the tones of ornamental perennials, crops, succulents, container plants and patio furniture. They will make the garden an extension of the house, tying all the elements together. Congratulations, you’ve practically mastered the cottage style of garden design.

8 New Wave Gardens.

Some of the best unpretentious plants for any garden are ornamental crops. Followers of Peu Udolphus agree with you and lovers of roses, peonies, clematis and dahlias disagree.

Frankly, it is not easy to design at least one mixed border according to the precepts of the Dutch guru, because in our conditions it is difficult to replace the seasonal image. But herbs create an atmosphere that you can’t get with brightly colored flowers. Read more about the new wave gardens in the article “Pedo Oudolf’s Natural Flower Garden.”

Vonderhof, Maximo Park. Utrecht, Holland. Designer: Piet Oudolf

9 The terrace: A seating area as the main planning equipment

If you have a small garden or just want to create a dining space next to the house, one of the best ways to do so without causing claustrophobia is to use garden pergolas. Lattice openings let in air and light while maintaining a certain amount of privacy.

The patio in the countryside

Растения по обе стороны от решетчатых стен дадут еще больше экранирования. Вы можете смешать древесные тона и серый оттенок, используя серые и терракотовые орнаменты, горшки и подушки. Как сделать патио на даче читайте здесь >>>

10 A modern, functional garden

In many cases, entertainment and functional areas (greenhouse, beds, fruit trees, summer kitchen, parking lot) in the house have to be broken up.

Ornamental garden (project by Svetlana Chizhova)

Благодаря четкому разделению многим новичкам гораздо легче подобрать и соответствующие растения для каждого уголка. Посмотрите идеи по созданию приподнятых грядок, они смотрятся привлекательнее традиционных >>>.

A review of the 14 best free landscaping programs in 2022

In the past, landscape design programs were used mostly by garden design professionals. Today, free programs are available not only for professionals, but also for landscape design enthusiasts and DIY enthusiasts.

A beautiful and harmonious garden is an advantage and pride of every owner. In the past, owners of suburban homes rarely did their own landscaping design. After all, the creation and further maintenance of an ideal garden requires a lot of time, effort and, above all, competent planning. It is a question of developing a site plan, for which there are many paid and free programs for planning garden design.

Once again, we want to offer you a detailed review of the 14 best free online and offline garden design programs 2022, on MS, tablets and smartphones, on Android and iOS. You can find them in the public domain and download them online (we add links to them in the description). Each of them has its own features, a set of tools for plot planning, 3D visualization and other features.

Gardenia: a free online program for planning a garden plot

This application was created primarily for planning the irrigation of a garden plot. The set of landscape elements is very modest. You can easily plan your plot online (the simplest diagram of your garden) and place the main buildings, paths, ponds, flowerbeds, trees and shrubs.

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Real Time Landscape Architect

One of the few software products created not only for professional landscape designers, but also for ordinary users with an intuitive interface. Depending on the choice of installation package, the user will get a wide range of garden designs and more than 1600 elements for your site development plan. The program’s library includes common decorative elements such as outdoor furniture, pergolas, pool accessories and fixtures. There is even a selection of kitchen and other outdoor items. There is a 3D visualization of your site in excellent quality. The interface language is English only. The program is paid, but you can download and install a trial version of the real-time landscape architect planner. Download the latest version of the program for free from the developer’s website – Realtime Landscaping Architect 2020.

Realtime Landscaping Pro.

This is a beneficial landscape design planner. This website design software is also available for free download. Realtime Landscaping Pro offers good options for visualizing your backyard or gardening solution. Since the program uses 3D capabilities, your designs will look very realistic. The database contains a large number of different garden décor elements. As a result, you will be able to plan your garden down to the smallest detail. The application is used both by beginners and by professional craftsmen. Rea l-time landscaping pro works in English, it has the ability to save the project.

Download the program by following this link

Smartdraw: Terms Free Program.

Whether you’re new to landscaping planning or a seasoned professional, Smartdraw makes it easy to create your own backyard designs and personal activities. With SmartDraw, you can add a backyard grill or grill area, walkways, umbrellas, picnic tables, fountains and fixtures at your discretion to your visual structures. The SmartDraw landscape design software works both in an online application and with the ability to download it to your computer. The user gets a 7-day test period.

Smartdraw not only creates style content, but also offers users the ability to encourage graphics and create presentations using PowerPoint. With the built-in photo program feature, you can import images from digital cameras or smartphones, scale it, adjust brightness and color, and crop drawings. The interface language is English.

The program’s website can be found at this link.

Punch Home Design – home and site design program

One of the best programs for planning the interior of the house and the production of landscape design of the garden plot with practical graphic tools.

The advantages of this software package are:

• High performance and high quality rendering of 2D geometry;
• Saving and opening of AutoCAD format (DWG / DXF);
• Large selection of flowers, shrubs and trees that you can add to your design, as well as the ability to add your favorite plants to the database.
• One of the features of the app is the ability to see how your planned site will look over time (in 1 year, 5, 10 years).
• First you are invited to consider how shade is generated in your garden from various objects and plants.
• Ability not only to insert the provided objects, but also to create them yourself;
• Compatibility with the new sketchup formats and the ability to edit objects in the program.
• Ability to evaluate the order of arrangement.

Although this software is paid, the developers offer a 14-day trial period. A trial version of the landscape garden planner can be downloaded for free from the official website.

Garden Visualiser.

With Garden Visualiser, you can put all your landscape design ideas into a beautiful 3D format and imagine yourself. You can then process the drawing and get the best solution for your garden or vegetable garden. The ability to add your home to the image as part of the tool is a special feature you can find in this software.

With Garden Visualiser you can add small objects to your project – fences, walls or hedges, paths, borders, pergolas, walls. The program can be found at this address.

The created schematic 3D plan automatically goes to your online office when you work online. There is no Russian version of the application, but a Russian version has been developed, which is also downloadable in the public domain.

X-constructor planner Garden Party 3D: conditions of the paid program

The application is developed by the domestic company IDDK. A great option for those who do not want to spend time on an independent study of the software. The functionality of the software is a fairly simple interface, but at the same time good opportunities to create a landscape design site. After working, each user will be able to create a plan of his garden or backyard in half an hour.

Of the app’s pluses, it is worth noting the ability to view in 3D mode. With the first input of your site size, date, list and location of the gardens, the user can see in different seasons at any time of day how the site looks visually. With the X Planner Designer, you can also change the lightness of the site.

Of the disadvantages, it is worth noting the simplistic features and rather weak visualization. Nevertheless, this application is suitable for quick creation of a site plan without unnecessary graphics requirements for novice landscape designers and ordinary users. The program has been created for a long time and has not been updated recently.

After the test time you can buy a license on the official website. You can order the application at http://iddk.ru/.

Pro Landscape Companion – A free version of the professional program

High-quality software for creating a site plan and decorating. This application was originally developed for professional landscape designers, but is also available to the common man. Its advantages:

• Easy to use automated design systems (CAD);
• Tips and tricks in one click;
• App capabilities for tablets and mobile;
• 3D rendering;
• Night and holiday lighting design, etc.

The iPad and Android versions of Pro Landscape Companion have been designed so that you can create landscape projects right on your tablet without leaving the site. A large selection of additional planning tools that other software products do not have. The disadvantage is the lack of Russian language, and when using more complex functions, the application asks for key input.

In addition to the paid version of the program, there is a free application for tablets and smartphones, which can be found both on Google Playmarket.

Plan-A-Garden: A free program for planning a garden page

This app is pretty easy to use. You can use the plan in 3D projection, all objects are three-dimensional. The planner has a help mode where you select a background scene from ready-made templates, such as a house. You can then pull through fences, benches, and pergolas to customize the look. Finally, you can shape the surface of a garden plot, such as a lawn, brick path, stone composition, terrace or gravel path.

Of course, you can include in your garden design all kinds of plants that are available in the program’s library. There are many trees, vines, shrubs, bulbous flowers and other garden crops that you can add with a simple drag and drop. Some of these objects can be filtered by type, size and lighting to find the objects you want.

Your project can be saved online so you never lose your plan. When you’re done, you can save an image of your garden, and you can export a list of the plants you’ve added to your plot.

The downside of Plan-A-Garden compared to other online garden planners is that it’s not as easy to add items and plants to your garden that aren’t in the app’s library. In addition, you can only look at the garden from one angle, so the movement of objects on the screen is somewhat limited.

The language of the program is English.

Showoff Virtual Designer

With this landscape design app, you can upload digital photos of your own garden and add the necessary plants, pots, paths, and walls to create the virtual dream plot. You can change designs as many times as you like until you find the right one. Showoff Virtual Designer not only helps in planning the perfect garden plot, but also has a save function, you can share your designs with others.

Gardena’s free online garden planner My Garden

Let’s note right away that this app is primarily designed for planning a garden irrigation system. But besides that, it has a lot of tools for landscaping planning. In addition, the program already contains several standard garden plans with buildings, ponds and plants placed on them. You can use these plans as a starting point to create your dream garden plan. Just copy the map and start editing.

An app with simple enough functionality that it’s easy for even a beginner to master. And, as mentioned above, in the My Garden app you have the ability to plan your own irrigation system to suit your needs. You can also download a free site plan and shopping list.

There is a manual online in Russian and Ukrainian for My Garden.

Online Garden Planner

Another free offline and online application designed to plan the landscape design of your garden or plot. The database of the application contains more than 1200 plants and garden decorations. Each object can be customized to your liking. The program provides simple drawing tools that you can use to add sidewalks and paths, fences, water features and other elements to your project.

This free landscaping program impresses with the ease of use of all the tools and the clear interface. You can easily drag and drop any object into your drawing from the menu. You can also rotate it, enlarge or reduce it, even change its shape. The drawing can then be printed. Garden Planner is conditionally free (limited to 15 working days). The application is in English, but you can find it online and install the crack. You can download the program for Windows at this link. There are many guides and materials online explaining how to work with Garden Planner.

You can also try this developer’s online landscape builder. But unfortunately, there is no way to save the designed plan of your plot here. You can try the online version of the program and create an express plan. You cannot save your design in the online version.

Home Design 3D Outdoor & Garden: Landscaping software for Android and iOS.

This list of site landscaping programs can also be complemented by the popular free home design 3D outdoor & garden smartphone app.

With this mobile application you can design not only a house, but also a garden plot or vegetable garden. The program has an intuitive user interface, easy to use. With its help you will be able to mark and designate different areas in the garden. There is a library with more than 100 elements for landscape design:

• Garden Furniture,
• Trees and shrubs,
• Flowers and ornamental plants,
• Pool,
• Growing houses and outbuildings,
• Fences
• Decorative items, etc.

The application contains 3D rendering, with which you can visually enjoy the result of the site and can easily realize your design dreams. In the free version you can use the functionality of the program, but the program does not allow you to save your designs in the storage (only in the paid version).

The application can be downloaded for free on smartphones with Android or iOS.

ISCAPE Free Landscaping Software for iOS Devices

This software product has a great interface for mobile devices that can do everything as well as desktop software. There’s a minimum of complicated working tools, which in turn makes it much easier to create your dream garden. It gives users an idea of what their landscaping project will look like.

On the plus side, there is a general use of various tools, augmented reality functionality, and other chips. The cons include the limited number of plants and decorations in the free version.

This is a software application that has been developed for Apple device users and offers a basic tool that can be used to visualize the final result of a landscaping plan.

This mobile software is available on the App Store.

We’ve only looked at a few free landscape design software, but it’s enough to design your future site.