Virtual Gardenis a free garden design program from the BBC. It is a classic among programs for garden lovers, but unfortunately it is already quite outdated. It is very easy to use, although unfortunately only available in English. Is it worth using? See how thefree Virtual Gardenfree garden design program works and what it offers!
Virtual Garden - free garden design program from the BBC - garden design stage
Virtual Gardenavailable on the BBC website has an easy-to-use panel.We can see the designed garden from above, which makes our design work easier. At any time, we can see our progress in 3D mode and possibly correct errors or plantings in the garden. The plant base is not extensive, but it is enough for a simple and not very advanced garden design. The advantage of the program is 10 records of garden designs, to which we can return at any time. Then print the project with a list of plants and materials used in it.
We can design inVirtual Garden from BBCin two ways. The first is on-line design directly in your browser. Unfortunately, this requires the installation of the appropriate plug-in and often the program hangs or does not start at all in this way. It all depends on how we have a configured web browser. The second, much better way is to download the program to your computer's hard drive. The Virtual Garden application does not take up too much disk space, because only 6.5 Mb in the Windows version and 7.9 Mb in the MacOS version.After downloading the file, install it and open it. Then we can start creating our own garden concept.
One of the downsides of thisfree garden design programis its poor refreshment. On quite old browsers (or not updated to the latest version) the mouse cursor with the selected plant can often hang or clip. The small number of trees (especially conifers) and small architecture slightly limits the room for maneuver to create a professional garden concept. The program opens in a small browser window, which can be a problem for visually impaired people. Unfortunately, it is not possible to enlarge the window of the displayed program. The view control panel during 3D mode is too poor compared to other free garden design programs available even in Polish.
Virtual Garden - free garden design program from the BBC - preview of the project in 3D
To sum up,Virtual Garden by BBCis a program for the fun and relaxed creation of garden concepts. Thanks to it, we can easily create colorful and quick projects more for illustrative purposes than for a professional presentation of an architectural idea.
Both the online versionof Virtual Gardenand the version for installation on a computer can be found at this link. I encourage you to download the installation version, because everything indicates that the website with Virtual Garden is not being developed anymore and maybe it will disappear soon …
Eng. landscape architect Piotr Moliński
