Plant Intelligence Center

There are three ways in. Click the tree icon, Plant Intelligence, in the left toolbar to open Garden insights for your design; if plants, hedges or plant areas are selected, it starts with only those. In Add Objects, open Plants and click Library, if your plan includes the plant library, to start on Search plants. To read about one placed plant that has a botanical name, select it and click Plant Intelligence on the Plant tab of the Inspector; that opens just that plant, without the other tabs.

On Search plants, type a common or botanical name. Results update as you type. Use the filters on the left to narrow the list by type, light, moisture, drainage, soil type, fertility, leaves, growth, maximum height, flower colour and use, and by options such as Scented, Good in containers, No thorns and Exclude lime-hating plants. Click a result to open it on the Plant tab.

If nothing matches, choose Search names in all languages. If the plant is still missing, type its botanical name, for example Nepeta faassenii, and choose Analyze “…” with AI. The button appears only when no plants match, and only for text that looks like a botanical name or after the all-languages search also found nothing. The first analysis shows Analyzing… with progress and can take a little while. The profile is then saved, so the plant opens straight away next time.

The Plant tab shows the plant’s names, type, hardiness zone, flower colours and, when documented, a Harmful if eaten warning at the top, followed by these sections: About this plant, Form and resilience, Fit for this site (hardiness and soil), Size and seasons, Care and safety, and Wildlife and design. Use the back button above the page to return to the list you came from.

When you opened the plant from one of the tabs, click Insert into drawing. The dialog closes and plant placement starts, using a plant form and starting size taken from the profile; the size is what the plant reaches in its first years where that is known. Click in the drawing to place each plant, then adjust it in the Inspector as usual.

Plants in garden lists every species in the drawing, including plants in hedges and plant areas, largest quantity first. Columns show quantity, type, height, spread, flowering, light, water, hardiness (USDA zone and lowest temperature), maintenance and toxicity, followed by Catalog product, Unit price and Total. Click any column heading to sort. Click a row to open that plant. A species without a profile yet is still listed with its quantity and catalog details.

Garden insights shows the planting as one scheme: a summary, care calendar, year of interest, garden clock, colour mix by month, colour palette by season, food for pollinators, winter structure, skyline at maturity, site needs, hardiness ladder, garden resilience, safety and wildlife, pruning workload and care effort. Use Whole drawing or Selected plants at the top to choose which plants to include; the same choice applies to Plants in garden and Garden maintenance. Species without a profile yet are named but not included in the charts.

Garden maintenance opens on the current month. The year overview shows estimated hours of routine care for each month; click a month to see its tasks, or choose Whole year to list every month followed by the tasks that are only done when needed. Each task lists the plants that need it, how often, the skill needed and the estimated time. Click a plant name to open that plant. Tasks for the first years after planting are listed but not counted in the hours. This is the same care information your client receives in the care guide of the plant list document.

On Compare, choose Add plant to pick plants, or Use plants from my garden to add the species with the largest quantities. You can compare two to four plants on the same scales: size, flowers, foliage, fruit, bark and stems, hardiness, needs, toughness, care load and toxicity. A sentence names the biggest differences. Use Clear to start again. Compare only shows information; it does not change your drawing.