After years living in apartments, we moved into a larger home with a good-sized yard. The real bonus is it was spectacularly landscaped by previous owners to our benefit. All we need to do is maintain it.

However, if faced with landscaping a yard, I’d seriously consider premium software to help organize my thoughts and put together a blueprint. I think software is only really necessary for a larger landscaping project with multiple gardens.

Reviews of the most popular 2016 landscaping design software programs with 3D planning layouts, photo gallery of ideas and easy to use apps.

The problem with software is it takes a while to learn it and make it work for you. But, once you get going with it, relax and have some fun, it can be a very powerful design tool, whether for interior design or outside your home for landscape and/or garden design. I’m a software nut. I enjoy learning it and using it. Hence we’ve published and updated this terrific. While I’m all about free, I think if you’re going to invest time into creating landscape designs with software, you’re better off buying the premium software.

While there are some awesome, not so much with garden and landscape design unfortunately. Benefits of using software to design gardens and landscaping Using software, even rudimentary software, helps you establish a concrete plan for your gardens and landscaping. It can also help you to think through what you want. It’s not easy visualizing landscaping all at once, but when sketched out, not only will you have a better chance of remembering every detail (because it’s right there for you), but you’ll also have a detailed plan from which to create your outdoor masterpiece. =>FYI: if you’re looking for (although many of the options below include deck design modules as well). Table of Content • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A.

Free Options Unfortunately the following free options are awesome, but if you’re on a budget and just want to get a taste of using landscaping software, give some of the following a try. If you like software for designing your yard, then you’ll definitely want to check out the premium versions below.

They aren’t terrible expensive and may just help you put together the perfect yard. Also, I don’t recommend any one particular option below. Our aim is to provide a comprehensive list of your options. It’s pretty easy and fast to kick the tires so you can figure out which one to use. Home Outside (Freemium app) The is available as an app on and. It’s free to download and to use, but you must pay to download your plans.

Some people criticize it because you need to pay at some point, but I think it wouldn’t be as good as it is if you didn’t have to pay. The plus side is you can see if you can use it to get the right plan for you.

If you don’t, at least you’re not out of pocket unlike other design software that forces you to buy up front. Gardena (Free) Gardena is a website that sells all types of landscaping products for water management (hoses, sprinklers, etc.), lawn care (lawnmowers), tree and shrub cae (hedge trimmers, shears, etc.) and other garden care tools. Their free online software (available at; it’s not an app) is a way to get you interested in their products. I like this arrangement because they can afford to invest in decent free landscaping software.

In other words, they aren’t looking to profit from the software itself; instead the software is a way to attract people to their site and promote various products. It’s a win/win between Gardena and us consumers looking for free design tools. Below is a series of screenshots we took using the software.

You’ll see it’s fairly intuitive and offers some good options. Paid Options If you’re looking for higher quality software, I hate to break it to you, but you need to buy it. The cost range is pretty high. Punch and HGTV software is on the lower end of the cost-range. Home Designer is mid-range and then Sketchup Pro is expensive. That said, in relation to how much landscaping costs, the software is pretty insignificant.

I think it’s worth investing in quality software so you get a quality design and plan before investing thousands in the actual work. Below are 7 popular landscape and garden design software options. Smart Draw (Freemium) Smart Draw is pretty cool design software for garden and landscape planning. SketchUp (Free and Paid) is the ultimate design program, whether for the outside or the inside. It’s what many of the pros use. However, if you’re looking the animated video finished result, Sketchup on its own won’t do that. You need to upload your Sketchup designs to an animation software such as.

However, Sketchup Pro isn’t cheap. For personal use, a bit steep. For professionals, a basic cost of doing business. Check out the video this is amazing software.

I doubt for DIY work, $695 is necessary. You may want to see if a lower cost option such as or will do the job for you since they cost far less than Sketchup Pro.

From designing the backyard to the home garden, most of us hire decorators and designers to make our outdoor space look good and fabulous. But it is not always necessary to do so since there are many free softwares which can help you do this task on your Windows ba_x_sed computer. Such softwares are termed as free landscape design software for Windows and can easily be downloaded on any device. These help you design your own landscape without the need of a professional. The following is a list of the top 10 free landscape design software for Windows.

Garden Planner Features and functions: Garden Planner is one of the best free landscape design software for Windowswhich enables you to plan and design your backyard or garden easily. This program is superb because it is easy for beginners with no previous knowledge of such softwares. It offers a lot of plants and other things which can help you beautify your garden. Pros of Garden Planner For a more realistic effect it offers a lot of free and plants. It offers you all the details of ob_x_jects and plants, making the experience good for you. It is equally great for both beginners and professional designers. Cons of Garden Planner This free landscape design software for windowsdoesn’t allow to place buildings or define dimensions to an area.

Garden Planner may prove not very useful for most people even inspite of so many good features. It may become very difficult to use it because it has a complex interface. User comments/reviews: 1. Some things, like distance computation, are handy, but they are far overshadowed by the negatives.

This program was developed in Australia and assumes garden styles and plant species that are typical of that climate. 3.This is a fine program for home users who want to fiddle around with landscaping ideas for their yards. Plangarden Features and functions This is another free landscape design software for Windowsfor those who wish to design their garden on their own. It comes with a simplistic interface and gives you several tools to place plants etc wherever you want.

This program also allows you to share your garden plans with your designers and get their opinions Pros of Plangarden The best thing about this is that it lets you lay down all the plants you want on an area as large as you want. You can also set indoor starting dates, frost dates, and also start a daily Plangarden log. It also enables you to the amount planted, track varieties, the date planted as well as the estimated days to harvest. Cons of Plangarden One of the drawbacks of this free landscape design software for windowsis that you can’t add any images to your log. Also, you can’t track productions from a row or individual plants or draw a garden bed which can curve inwards.. This program doesn’t let you li_x_nk your photos to plants in the manage veg tab.

User comments/reviews: 1. The world of technology has allowed us to share every aspect of our lives with others on the internet. Vegetable garden software will help you to create a bountiful harvest for you and your family to enjoy.

As someone who gets itchy (green) thumbs around mid-winter, Plangarden sounds like my dream software. VisionScape Features and functions: VisionScape is a free landscape design software for Windowswhich lets you create any property virtually at home. It offers a large range of products and design features to make things easier. The software comes with numerous templates which you can use as inspiration while designing your property. Pros of VisionScape The best thing about it is that you can easily edit things and save the project offline You can get professional advice and feedback on your project and this too acts as a positive. VisionScape offers you the ability to see your designs in 3D which too is impressive. Cons of VisionScape Some of the tools and features are not very efficient.

The program proves to be buggy at times. It may prove to be slow at times and this too is another negative. User comments/reviews: 1. The building tool is how you're supposed to be able to build a replica of your house.

This is what kills so many application like this; the lack of a fully fleshed out, intuitive building too Screenshot. Dream Plan Features and functions: Dream Plan is a free landscape design software for Windowswhich helps you create 3D models of your home and garden. It lets you create walls, add plants to gardens and offers many other tools. It has an intuitive and easy to use interface. Pros of Dream Plan Dream Plan has many tools to design both interiors and exteriors and this is a positive.

Another good thing is that it has an easy user interface for beginners. This software lets you see and design your plans in 3D. Cons of Dream Plan One of its main drawback is that it is difficult to edit things like wall heights on it.

Another negative is that you can rotate furniture, scale things and erase your mistakes. Dream plan is too much of a simple and immature product. User comments/reviews: 1. Useful for Remodeling before Construction Begins.

Really simple, and probably inspired by, 'The Sims' game house editor 3. Helpful Interior and Exterior Design Tools.

SmartDraw Features and functions Smart Draw is a brilliant free landscape design software for Windowswhich offers many great tools. This program lets you create plans for decks, patios, gardens and interiors. It has many features like barbeques, pathways, planters, rocks and many more. Pros of SmartDraw One of its positives is that it is a complete solution to any home owners landscaping designing needs with so many tools. Another positive about it is that it offers quickstart designing templates. It lets you easily share your designs or projects with others. Cons of SmartDraw One of its negatives is that the UI is hard to understand and get used to.

Another negative is that there is no searchable help provided. The entire software is a little complex and complicated. User comments/reviews: 1.

Basic software for drawing flowcharts, etc 2. Very impressed. Downloaded and installed.: 3. You can do basic flow diagrams similar to PowerPoint. Real-time landscaping plus Features and functions: Real-time landscaping plus is 3D and photo ba_x_sed realistic landscape design software.

This is a free landscape design software for Windowswhich offers a library of 10400 ob_x_jects. It also offers a lot of plants etc to choose from for designing gardens. Pros of Real-time landscaping plus Real-time landscaping plus lets you visualizes patios, gardens and backyards. Another positive about it is that it offers a very wide library of ob_x_jects. One of the impressive thing about it is that is free to try with limited ob_x_jects which too are enough for beginners. Cons of Real-time landscaping plus One of the negatives associated with it is that it is very buggy and installs many freeware files along with it.

It misses on a few design tools and is not very customizable. It does not import many files as one would want it to. User comments/reviews: 1. Real-time Landscaping Pro’s user-friendly design and wide range of features make it one of the best pieces of home design software. Not only does the software have a variety of planning tools, construction elements and design features, it also offers countless vegetation options in its plant library. With Real-time Landscaping Pro, you can create realistic designs of homes, landscapes and decks.

VizTerra landscape design software Features and functions: This is another free landscape design software for Windowswith is a professional 3D hardscape. It is ideal for both beginners and professionals as it offers many full fledged features. This free landscape design software for Windows lets you design in 3D and share designs with others. Pros of VizTerra landscape design software One of its best qualities is that it packs a punch with many tools and features that it provides. It is very simple to learn and easy to use and this too is a positive.

This software also has a paid version with more features. Cons of VizTerra landscape design software It lacks on certain details for example color options for flowers. This software gets a little slow at times and this is one of the negatives related to it. Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition Keygen Download Mac.

User comments/reviews: 1. I started designing in 10 minutes and created a great design from scratch with no help. Online videos definitely filled in the gaps 2. So easy to use, great system lots of support and videos 3.The demo is free and I am thinking about signing up soon. TurboFloorPlan landscape deluxe design software Features and functions TurboFloorPlan is a free landscape design software for Windowswhich offers many drag and drop features and ob_x_jects. It lets you design both in 2D and 3D. This software lets you design with fences, pathways, lawns and others.

Pros of TurboFloorPlan One of the positives of this program is that there are many features and tools to choose from. Another positive of this software is that it offers many templates to easily design indoor and outdoor spaces. It is easy to use and intuitive. Cons of TurboFloorPlan This free landscape design software for Windows is that its roof generator is a little glitch.

Its navigation features are very sensitive. It is slightly limiting when it comes to adding floors. User comments/reviews: 1. The wizard to create new plans works 2. It is fairly easy to get started.

Hara Hara Mahadeva Shambo Shankara Telugu Serial Mp3 Songs. Basic features work well 3. I was able to diagram my existing floor plan very well. Idea Spectrum Features and functions: This is a free landscape design software for Windowsfor designing yards, gardens, fencing and swimming pools etc.

This program works well for both beginners and professionals. Idea Spectrum comes with many templates for easy designing. Pros of Idea Spectrum The best feature of this is that it comes with many easy to customize templates. This program is easy to use, great for beginners and comes with brilliant designs.

Another good thing about it is that it also works equally well for professional designers. Cons of Idea Spectrum One drawback of this program is that it can be a little slow to work with. It has many complex tools which can be tough to learn for beginners.

User comments/reviews: 1. An extensive plant encyclopedia and plenty of templates will assist you in building your home’s outline.

There are a few design tools missing, and it does not import as many file types as we would like. Google SketchUp Features and functions Google SketchUp is a free landscape design software for Windowswhich enables you to draw and design any kind of indoor or outdoor space. This software can be used in both 2D and 3D by beginners and professionals. It has large user community for tutorials, support and advice etc. Pros of Google SketchUp The best thing about this software is that it allows precise and clear designing.

It comes with many tools and features and is highly customizable. Cons of Google SketchUp Exporting files can be a little tough and complicated. This program may take a little time to learn.

Google SketchUp is powerful by glitchy at times. User comments/reviews: 1. Working with SketchUp often feels like drawing on the back of a napkin, aided by a powerful computer. Today, Google uses SketchUp as an important element of Google Earth: 3.SketchUp makes heavy use of inference and artificial intelligence. Screenshot: Free landscape design software for Windows.