garden design software

There are several high-quality landscape design software packages, and a great deal of useless ones. The best packages include realistic three-dimensional garden representations, a large selection of garden types, ornaments and features so that you can replicate your own environment, and of course a wide range of plants. They can project the growth of plants into the future so you can see whether you are planting the right plants in the right places.

The cheaper versions, with poor drawings, low flexibility and a limited number of plants and structure are not really worth the effort.

If you are just starting in gardening and don't yet have a feel for how plants develop over time, this garden software can be a very effective tool.

Even the best versions are of course just a tool that shows your ideas on the computer screen. They don't avoid the need to plan your garden in your head first, or to think about colour schemes. Even the best software won't tell you that a daffodil and a bluebell don't really look very good next to each other.

Most software companies will have an online demo of their software, especialy if it is reasonably expensive. Try before you buy. The most important characteristic is the quality of the 3D drawings that the programme can draw - if these are poor, the programme will be poor.

For all that, for a price of say $50-100 you should expect quite reasonable landscape garden software - a price well worth paying if it can help improve your garden design, and potentially add thousands of dollars to the value of your property.

Having chosen your software, don't forget to shop around for the best price.