When I moved from my 27th floor downtown condo to my first real house with a yard in 2017, I was beyond excited to start gardening. I had fond memories of growing marigolds and pumpkins as a kid, and had botanical-garden-level plans for my very own 1 acre.
I visited nurseries and fell in love with every plant. When I chose my favorites to come home with me, though, I proceeded to put them all in the wrong places. I found I was often surprised by how combinations worked (or didn't). Colors I'd chosen to complement each other didn't always bloom at the same time. And I realized that planning season long interest is a non-trivial Tetris puzzle. With a finite amount of space, I needed careful planning to track which plants would bloom when, and orchestrate all the entrances and exits.
I wanted to answer a simple question before planting: what will my garden actually look like in May... and July... and September?
I experimented with a variety of tools. Graph paper is a go-to, but even with some basic perspective drawing skills, it was time consuming to render a 3D plan, and I wasn't confident in my accuracy.
I tried landscape design software as well. Some offered good spatial planning tools, but had small libraries of generic plants rather than specific varieties. Others had better plant libraries but lacked the layout precision I was looking for.
Eventually I realized I wanted something that combined both.
So I built the tool I wished I'd had.
Garden Sketchbook lets you create precise 2D planting plans and instantly see your garden through the seasons in 3D. The goal is simple: help gardeners understand which plants will be blooming together, so you can design your seasons of interest with confidence.
All of the plant artwork is hand-drawn by me (digitally, on an iPad). I spent a lot of time thinking about how to represent plants in a way that feels both visually appealing and botanically recognizable, and how to structure plant data so the garden changes realistically through the seasons.
I minored in art and have a background in graphic design, but my career quickly took a technical turn as I got interested in web development. Garden Sketchbook gave me the chance to bring those worlds together — combining botanical illustration, software engineering, and my ever-growing obsession with plants.
This project is continually evolving. I'm adding new plants, improving the artwork, and building new features all the time, and I plan to keep improving it as gardeners share feedback and ideas.
After spending a year building on my own, I'm excited to finally share it with other gardeners. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think.
Questions, ideas, and feedback are always welcome — you can reach me here.
