Eden Garden Designer: design a flower garden before you dig
Eden Garden Designer is a garden design app for iPhone and iPod Touch. Start with one of the included gardens, or photograph your own yard, then plant it with photorealistic perennials and annuals that match your zone, your sun and your season.
How to design a flower garden See the featuresA living garden on your screen
Eden gardens are fully animated. Plants wave in the wind and bees buzz from flower to flower. The result is a garden planning app that feels less like software and more like standing in the garden you are about to build.
If you are new to gardening or a real green thumb, Eden lets you design a beautiful garden without learning expensive and complicated landscape design programs. It was built as a friendly, useful tool for gardeners of every ability and interest.
Eden was made by Herbaceous Software and first appeared on the App Store in July 2009. You can follow every release, and the rebuild now under way, in the version history, or read the original release notes on the Eden blog.
What the garden design app does
Every feature in Eden answers one question gardeners ask before planting: will this look right, and will it grow here?
Design on your own yard
Use an included garden background, ready for planting, or create your own through your iPhone's camera or photo library. Place Adam and Eve at diagonal corners to set the plantable area, then plant.
Photorealistic plant library
Vivid, photorealistic plants and flowers chosen from favorite North American and European perennials and annuals. Each plant has useful growing information and a wiki link for more detail.
Search by what matters
Filter plants by name, height, hardiness zone, color, blooming season, sun exposure and type, so every flower bed design starts with plants that suit the spot.
Automatic hardiness zone
Eden can detect your hardiness zone in North America using GPS and show which plants will and won't do well in your area. Here is why your hardiness zone matters.
Blooming season view
See how your garden will look at different times of the year. Planning bloom succession from spring to fall is one of the hardest parts of flower garden design, and this makes it visual.
Plant list for shopping
When the design is done, Eden builds a plant list: a handy shopping list of every plant in your garden, ready for the nursery and soil prep.
Screenshots
How to use Eden
This short demo walks through the basics: opening a garden, setting the plantable area, searching the plant library and planting your first flower bed.
Want the design thinking behind it? Read our step by step guide on how to design a flower garden, from sun and zone to height, color and bloom season.
From the plant library
Every plant in Eden carries the details you need to decide where it belongs: type, hardiness zone, sun exposure, moisture, colors and blooming season.
Calla Lily
Zantedeschia aethiopica
Perennial, Zone 9, Full Sun, Moist
Garden design app FAQ
What is Eden Garden Designer?
Eden Garden Designer is an iPhone and iPod Touch garden design app by Herbaceous Software. It lets you plant animated, photorealistic flowers and perennials on an included garden scene or on a photo of your own yard.
Can I design a garden using a photo of my own yard?
Yes. Take a photo with your iPhone camera or pick one from your photo library, then place Adam and Eve at diagonal corners of the bed to define the plantable area. If they sit on the same front or back edge, the plantable area is zero and nothing can be planted.
Does Eden know which plants grow in my area?
Eden can detect your North American hardiness zone automatically with GPS and flags which plants will and won't do well where you live. You can also search the plant library by zone.
Where did the extra plants come from?
Eden 2.0 added the Eden Garden Center, where you could download themed plant packs of 20 plants or garden features plus a new background, such as the Suburban Shade pack for shady yards.
Can I still download Eden?
Not right now. The original Eden Garden Designer is no longer listed on the App Store, and the app is being rebuilt. You can follow the revamp in the version history. In the meantime, this site keeps its story, screenshots and garden design know-how available for the gardeners who used it and anyone planning a flower garden today.
How do I start designing a flower garden?
Start with the site: sun, soil, moisture and hardiness zone. Then choose a bed shape, layer plants by height, pick a color scheme and plan bloom succession. Our flower garden design guide covers each step.