Best Garden Design Software [2024 Updated List]

Make your garden stand out with these picks

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Key notes

  • You may use garden design software to create your perfect garden or to create an architectural concept for a professional assessment.
  • A tool for creating an outdoor experience could build dรฉcor, outdoor furniture, irrigation systems, ponds, and other elements.
  • These ideas may require some time to apply creatively in a team or on an individual project, but the ultimate result is rewarding.
  • Take a look at our top picks for the best garden design software below and choose your favorite for a great and detailed garden project.
garden design software

If you are faced with landscaping a yard, it is best to consider using garden design software to assist in organizing your thoughts and putting together a blueprint.

Garden software is mostly needed when considering a landscaping project with multiple gardens. However, it takes some time to learn and utilize this software.

The use of this software helps you to design a concrete plan for your gardens and landscaping. It helps you to make a solid decision on exactly what you want.

It is not very easy for you to visualize landscaping all at once, but when it is sketched out, not only will you remember every detail but you will also have an accurate plan from which to design your outdoor masterpiece.

For interior designs or landscape and garden designs outside your home, powerful garden design software will definitely save the day.

As a result of this, we decided to publish this article showing various design software. Combine them with Feng Shui software, and the recipe for success is ready.

If you like software for designing your yard, there are some premium versions to check out below. They are not expensive and will definitely assist you in putting together the perfect yard.

What are the best garden design tools?

Adobe Illustrator – Most creative garden ideas

Adobe Illustrator comes as a highly-polished application for creating vector graphics.

For planning your perfect garden you don’t need anything more than this since it will let you quickly draw a layout, modify lines according to your landscaping needs, etc.

If youโ€™re accustomed to other Adobe apps, know that the interface looks quite similar. Therefore, creating a simple layout should be quite easy.

The Pen Tool will be your best friend since it’s the main tool you use to draw lines that will eventually turn into shapes. Get accustomed to all of the drawing tools in order to better meet your needs.

The key features included in the program:

  • The Pen tool is one of the most used tools to create all kinds of plans, layouts etc
  • A clean and fully customizable interface that enables you to capture the essence of abstract art
  • Many effects help you express how you want your garden to be divided
  • Learning Illustrator is very easy because of the plethora of online resources available

Adobe Illustrator

Design sketches and blueprints for your projects using Adobe Illustrator’s rich library of features.
Free trial Visit website

DreamPlan Home Design – 3D interior design

DreamPlan Home Design is a full-feature home planner software. It is one of the best products of its kind and it can be used by anyone interested in creating not only garden designs, but also house plans, redecoration, and more.

You don’t need any CAD knowledge to use DreamPlan as it has a visual, intuitive user interface.

DreamPlan Home Design comes with tools for multiple types of architectural projects. If your main interest is gardening, you can combine Exterior and Landscaping tools to create complex designs.

The software allows one to plant trees, add different types of plants, reshape the outdoor terrain, and design front gardens and backyard structures.

Other key features of DreamPlan Home Design include:

  • Generates 3-D models of your desings
  • Import and export support for 3D models
  • Extensive interior design options, including tons of furniture

DreamPlan Home Design is a paid software. It has a free trial, so you can try it before purchasing and see if it meets your needs.

DreamPlan Home Design

Create complex garden designs with intuitive tools. Requires no CAD knowledge.
Free trial Visit website

SmartDraw – Practical landscape designs

If you want to manage your garden designs and projects, SmartDraw makes it simple to draw and plan landscapes and store progress in the cloud.

SmartDraw blends ease of use with a powerful set of design capabilities, so it doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a more advanced landscape designer.

SmartDraw comes with a plethora of templates and examples that you can swiftly adjust or start from scratch, to build your own layout. To plan your landscape and home garden renovations, you don’t need fancy CAD tools; all you need is imagination.

You may drag and drop hundreds of ready-made symbols and forms for both professional landscaping and home gardening. Your dream garden can be built using elements such as ground cover, shrubs, irrigation systems, brick patterns, grasses, flowers, decor, outdoor furniture, and even photo-realistic textures.

Thanks to cloud storage, team collaboration has become easier. Share your architecture design with a professional florist to rearrange the flowers for their benefit and your delight, or seek another perspective on the electrical side of your project.

This software makes it easy to share your file through Use OneDrive, Google Drive, or DropBox very quickly, nonetheless you can also generate links to share the file with clients and outsiders.

And if you need assistance, SmartDraw specialists are accessible at any time and at no extra cost.

โ‡’ Get SmartDraw

My Garden Planner – Drag and drop usage

You can make use of this software to design your garden. It is also a good tool for carrying out plant research. With this software, you can look into plants’ longevity, their varieties, and how to care for them.

It is a user-friendly software that allows you to include fences, buildings, decks, sheds, and even a pond.

If you want a quick and easy way to design your garden, consider using Shoot Garden Planner. In addition, this software is compatible with Windows OS such as Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8.

โ‡’ Get My Garden Planner

Marshall’s Garden Visualiser – Realistic garden visuals

This free garden design software is a powerful tool in landscape design. It allows you to visualize your garden in a 3d space. It pretty much looks like a video game.

While using it to build your garden, you can move around, it gives you a real-life feeling. You can specify the size of the garden you desire and also customize its shape exactly the way you plan to build it.

A lot of products could be added to your design using this software. You can add paths, garden surfacing, edgings, summerhouses, paving, and walling.

You can save your garden in your online account while you work. When you are done, get an installer to help you build the garden or you make it yourself.

If you intend to build yourself; request the information from their official website to order all the required products.

โ‡’ Get Marshall’s Garden visualizer

Chief Architect’s home designer – Professional choice

This powerful software is ideal for landscaping design and of course the garden. It is premium software with multiple packages.

However, the price is somewhat on the high side, but it does not really matter because it is very beneficial. In addition, this software enables you to achieve the right plan. 

If you do not like it after downloading it, you can easily do away with it; at least you didnโ€™t spend any money unlike other design programs out there which are much more expensive.

โ‡’ Get Chief Architect home designer

Gardena – Various garden products

Gardena is a web-based garden design software. On the website, you will find all types of landscaping products for water management (sprinklers, hoses, etc.), lawn care (lawnmowers), shrub and tree, and others.

However, Gardena keeps people interested in its products. In other words, they do not want to profit from the software itself.

Instead, the software is a way to attract people to their site and promote various products thereby getting a greater gain.

Itโ€™s a win/win between Gardena and its consumers looking for free design tools.

Have you used any of the garden design software we mentioned above? Do share your experience with us by commenting below.

โ‡’ Get Gardena

Conclusion

That said, you made it to the end of our list with the most influential garden design software. We hope you found just the perfect answer for your lovely garden.

If there are other solutions we didn’t include here, feel free to reach us and share your opinion.

You can let us know in the comments section how the recommended tools have supported you or what would you add more.

More about the topics: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, design software