Garden ME: a free garden planner that shows how your garden will grow
Garden ME is a free garden planner and simulator that runs in your web browser. You draw your garden to scale in metres, place plants from a library of reference data, and watch the garden grow through the seasons with your real climate, sun and shade. You can walk through it in 3D and test it against frost, storms, floods and fire before you buy a single plant.
What you can do
- Describe it, get a design
Say what you want in your own words, like “a shady, pet-safe cottage garden, 8 × 5 m, in Bangkok, with a pond”, and get a full layout with plants and elements, each choice explained. - Garden from a photo
Mark the corners of one photo of your garden and its size, and get a to-scale plan of its lawn, beds, paving and water. - See it in your yard (AR)
Place the planned garden on your real ground through your phone camera, life size or as a tabletop model. - Share it with friends
Post a picture of your garden to Facebook, X, WhatsApp, LINE, Pinterest and more, with a link that lets friends watch it grow and design their own. - Design together, live
Share a link and edit the same garden with family or a designer in real time, with everyone’s pointer on the plan and a small chat to talk it through. - Draw your real garden
Beds, lawns, paths, ponds, streams, walls, glasshouses and buildings, to scale in metres, or traced over a satellite map or photo. - 1686 plants with sources
Vegetables, herbs, fruit, flowers, shrubs, trees and water plants, each with spacing, sun, water, hardiness, toxicity and an evidence grade. - Watch it grow
A thermal-time growth model with your local climate shows each plant's size, flowering and fruit day by day through the year. - Sun and shade
Hour-by-hour sun and shadow from buildings, trees and walls, with a sun-hours map of the garden. - Walk it in 3D
Orbit, walk or fly through the garden in 3D with botanical plant models, water, rock gardens and garden buildings. - Stress-test it
See how the planting copes with frost, heatwaves, storms, floods and wildfire, with clear reasons. - Safety for children and pets
Toxicity for people, cats and dogs is shown separately from site fit. - Companion planting with evidence
Which plants help or hinder each other, with the reason and how strong the evidence is. - Botanical garden samples
Explore 20 gardens inspired by the world's great botanical gardens. - 1100 garden elements
Sculpture, lanterns, fountains, pergolas, bridges, benches and more from gardens around the world, placed with one click. - Free and private
No ads, no sign-up, works offline; your garden stays on your device.
Questions
- What is Garden ME?
- Garden ME is a free garden planner and simulator that runs in your web browser. You draw your garden to scale in metres, place plants from a library of reference data, and watch the garden grow through the seasons with your real climate, sun and shade. You can walk through it in 3D and test it against frost, storms, floods and fire before you buy a single plant.
- Is Garden ME free?
- Yes. It is free to use, has no ads, and needs no sign-up. An optional account lets you keep gardens across devices.
- Where is my garden stored?
- On your own device. Garden ME is local-first: your design stays in your browser unless you choose to sign in or share a garden card.
- Does it work on phones and tablets?
- Yes. Pinch to zoom, tap to plant and select, and drag to pan, in both the 2D plan and the 3D walk-through.
- Where does the plant data come from?
- Each of the 1686 plants has its sources listed (extension services, botanic gardens, floras and peer-reviewed work) and an evidence grade from A (strong) to D (traditional lore). The values are reference data for planning.
- Can Garden ME guarantee my plants will grow?
- No. It shows what is likely given the climate, sun, water and spacing, and explains why, but real gardens vary with soil, weather, varieties and care. Check with a local nursery or extension service.
- Can Garden ME design a garden for me?
- Yes. Choose “Describe your garden” (or ✨ Design it) and write or say what you want: size, where you live, sun or shade, children or pets, a style and anything you would like in it. It drafts the layout, garden elements and planting from its own rules and plant data, on your device, and explains every choice with an evidence grade.
- Can I see my design in my real garden?
- Yes, on a phone: in the 3D view choose “See it in your yard”. Android phones with Chrome place it on your real ground through the camera (life size or tabletop); iPhone and iPad open it in AR Quick Look.
- Can I add sculpture, lanterns or fountains?
- Yes. Open the Elements tab in the library (or the Elements button at the top), choose from 1100 garden elements from around the world, then click or tap your plan to place it. It appears in 3D too, and undo removes it.
- Can I see famous botanical gardens?
- Yes: 20 samples inspired by gardens such as Kew, Monet's Giverny, Singapore Botanic Gardens, Gardens by the Bay, Kirstenbosch, Longwood and the New York Botanical Garden can be explored in 3D.
Explore
- Plant growing guides
- Garden guides: pet-safe plants, shade plants, drought-tolerant plants, spacing and companion planting charts
- Garden plants by country
- Garden elements: sculpture, lanterns, fountains and more
- Botanical gardens in 3D