AI Garden Design: Intelligent Choices

A year ago, my local newspaper asked me to evaluate garden designs from two different AI sources. It was an interesting exercise, and it made me curious about online garden design outlets in general. I decided to revisit the topic and see what is currently available in AI-assisted garden design. Here is my review of a sample of sites that rose to the top of a web search or were mentioned by gardening websites. I assumed that most home gardeners would not be interested in investing a lot of money in design, so I looked for options that were free or did not require a major commitment of funds. For the purposes of testing garden design resources, I proposed two spaces in my landscape for redesign: a 15-foot-wide by 5-foot-deep native plant garden and a 20-foot-wide by 4-foot-deep vegetable garden.

Extensive Landscape Design Sites

These sites are available to anyone, but appear to be intended primarily for interior designers, architects, and landscape architects.

HomeDesignsAI
This is obviously a high-powered home design site that includes interiors, exteriors, and gardens. I was encouraged by my ability to upload photos of my garden spaces for free and select options for redesign that included design style, one to four designs, and a choice of low to extreme AI intervention. I was able to upload a photo of my current native garden bed, and I received a photo of the area after it was redesigned. Without signing up for a monthly plan, I could not specify that I wanted only native plants or receive a list of plants pictured in the design. HomeDesignsAI does offer a one-week free trial, but after signing up (with credit card information), I saw only more options for interior and structure designs, but not gardens.

Neighborbrite
Neighborbrite's tag line is "Transform your yard with AI powered design; designed for everyone who wants a beautiful garden with a single tap." Although it focuses on outdoor spaces, I felt that the emphasis is more on hardscaping than on plants. Neighborbrite is designed to work similarly to HomeDesignsAI, in that you upload a photo of the garden space you wish to redesign. It gave me the option to select my location, and it then selected the correct climate zone. Neighborbrite offered a choice of 16 garden styles, including Mediterranean, fairy garden, and edible garden. I uploaded a photo, and it displayed four redesign options, but editing, adding elements, and plant lists were all only available in "pro" or "business" versions. Neighborbrite did best with my native plant/perennial bed; in the redesign based on my vegetable garden photo, I could not recognize any plants except for the garlic currently growing there. A paid subscription is available for a monthly fee or a one-time project fee that features a limited number of designs.

DreamzAR
I wanted to include DreamzAR because I saw it mentioned in several online gardening sites. However, DreamzAR does not offer a trial or free option. DreamzAR specializes in landscape design and bases its designs on the client's own photos. 

Specific Garden Design Sites

These sites are more focused on a residential or educational garden and less on architecture and landscaping.

AIGardenPlanner
AIGardenPlanner provides the user with the option to upload a photo and select a redesign style. Their style list includes over 50 choices, with enticing titles such as Medieval Herb Garden, Cyberpunk Futuristic, Halloween Garden, and Winter Wonderland. I tested a few designs with an image from my yard; the images generated were interesting but would be hard to implement because they did not include a plant list. A separate function on this site is a "personalized garden planner." This option allows you to specify an area of your garden and asks for information such as dimensions, sun exposure, soil type, water availability, budget, your experience, and available time to garden. It then produces a list of plants, accompanied by photos and specific care instructions. I expect that in the future, the image redesign tool will be paired with the personalized garden planner, providing the user with both a photo and a list of recommended plants. I was able to purchase a trial of AIGardenPlanner for a small fee. This included a set number of designs and plans, but did not require a subscription. Various monthly subscription plans are also available.

Simplyscapes
Simplyscapes offers a Visual Designer™ tool, which it describes as the Canva of garden design. It allows you to upload a photo and populate it with images from its library of over 2,500 plants and 8,000 photorealistic plant images, many of which come from partnerships with Proven Winners, Syngenta, and other plant breeders. Information about each plant, including its size, is readily available on the site. However, it is easiest to use Visual Designer™ if you already have a sense of the plant’s mature size. What sets this site apart from others that use uploaded photos is that you have complete control over the plants you add and where you place them. If you prefer a more ready-made option, there are drawings of themed gardens, such as "Beat the Heat" and "Clay Soil Solution," that you can insert into your photo. Another aspect of the site, Aerial Designer™, is intended to help you create a top-down plan with accurate measurements. This tool is still in development. You can use Simplyscapes for no charge, but the plant options are very limited. However, Simplyscapes states that it desires to accommodate educational and nonprofit entities. When I requested a free trial for the purposes of writing this article, they readily agreed without requiring any credit card information.

Generative AI Assistants

Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is a conversational, AI-powered tool that responds to prompts. I tried out the free version, requesting that it design a 5-foot by 15-foot native garden bed in Lancaster, PA. I quickly received a list of plants and a layout concept with the taller plants in the back, transitioning to groundcovers in the front. It assumed that I was planting in full sun with well-drained soil, but asked for modifications that might need to be made to fit my situation. I was pleasantly surprised when Copilot suggested that I visit the Master Gardeners of Lancaster County's native plant idea garden for inspiration! All of the plants that Copilot suggested are generally accepted as native in my region. Copilot further supplied a planting diagram and a photo of the plants blooming at different times of the year. I was given more choices, such as formatting the plan more specifically to my site and a planting schedule.

I also asked Copilot to design a vegetable garden. It returned a plant list for spring, summer, and fall and offered a diagram of the garden. Though both the native plant and vegetable bed diagrams supplied by Copilot were not strictly to scale, they would be a helpful starting point. Some of Copilot’s suggestions about companion planting in the vegetable garden were based on garden lore rather than current research. Copilot was completely free to use. Copilot Pro is available for a monthly fee and offers better integration with Microsoft apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It also offers better speed in accessing information at peak usage times.

ChatGPT
I had tested ChatGPT's ability to design a garden from prompts a few years ago. Its abilities have grown exponentially! When I asked ChatGPT to design a native plant garden and a vegetable garden, I received almost identical plant suggestions to those provided by Copilot. This is no surprise, because both ChatGPT and Copilot are powered by OpenAI and have learned the same patterns and familiarity with natural language. I decided to ask ChatGPT to give me more unusual native plant choices, and it complied with a list that was different than the first, but still accurate and well-planned in terms of plant function and height. ChatGPT was able to generate a list of websites with more information about the recommended plants and a list of local sources, something that it had not been capable of doing when I experimented with it in the past. ChatGPT also offers a paid version, with a monthly fee identical to Copilot. This also enables priority access during peak times and faster response speeds.

The biggest difference I found between ChatGPT and Copilot was in the images, which were drawings from ChatGPT and AI-type photographs from Copilot. Copilot asserts that saving the documents, photos, and plans it generates is streamlined due to its interface with Microsoft apps, such as Word and PowerPoint.

Conclusion

I encourage gardeners to experiment with design sites. Of the sites reviewed here, my most satisfying experience was with Copilot, but the capabilities of garden design sites and their ease of use are constantly improving. Look for new garden design sites entering the market, as well.