How to Design a Garden Plan

Edraw Content Team
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EdrawMax specializes in diagramming and visualizing. Learn from this article to know everything about how to design your garden plan with ease. Just try it free now!

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Garden plans are architectural designs used by architects, builders, and house owners to lay out the area allocated to the garden on their property. As you will learn in this descriptive guide today, garden plans are proper planning to create a garden on your land. Creating a garden layout assures that you will have a nice environment when you start living on your property. At the same time, your garden plan will bring enough space for your children or pets to play.

You must be wondering how to design a garden plan? Well, this guide will provide you with enough resources about garden plan design and how effectively you can design a garden layout. In this article, we will provide you with easy ways to design a garden with free templates provided by EdrawMax.

how to design a garden plan cover

1. What Includes in a Garden Plan?

When you create a garden plan for your property, there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind. Remember that there is only one difference between a garden and a beautiful garden -- the latter was designed by following a garden plan. So, when you start working on your garden plan, remember to add a couple of important elements to your design, like:

  • Garden Location:
  • The very first step that you need to follow is to understand the garden location. Once you have measured everything correctly, you can start creating the garden's layout. This way, you will have the scale and measurements correctly mapped out in your garden plan.

  • Understand the plants:
  • Different types of shrubs, plants, and trees will go in the garden. If you are a homeowner, then discuss with your family what sort of plants you wish to grow in your garden; if you are working for a client, ask them. Once you have the right answer, you can add the plant symbols to your garden plan.

  • Understand Softscape:
  • Softscaping can include flowers, plants, shrubs, trees, flower beds, and duties like weed/nuisance management, grading, planting, mowing, trimming, aerating, spraying, and digging everything from plants and shrubs to flower beds.

  • Understand Hardscape:
  • Hardscape is any non-living element you put in your garden plan. These hardscapes can be rocks, bricks, pavers, stone, woods, etc. Any good garden plan design is incomplete without these hardscapes.

  • Understand Floor Plan:
  • If you are designing the garden design on the roof of an apartment, then you should also learn how to read the floor plan in detail. The labels and legends will come in handy.

What Includes in a Garden Plan:

Remember to add a couple of important elements to your design, like: garden location, understand the plants, understand softscape, understand hardscape, understand floor plan.

2. Preparations for Designing a Garden Plan

Just like any other architectural planning, a lot goes into planning a garden plan. Now that you have understood what is included in the garden plan, let us help you understand some of the basic preparations you need to do before you start designing a garden layout for your building. Remember that the following preparations may vary depending upon your resources, environment, and lifestyle preference, but the zest for designing the garden plan will remain the same.

  • Understand the plant:
  • Even before you go ahead with the designing part, you should discuss what you actually need to grow in your land. If you plan to have big mango or almond trees, then you will need a large space. If you want to grow small flower plants, then a small space would suffice.

  • Take a note of the budget:
  • It will not be wrong to say that gardening is an expensive hobby. A lot of time, money and other resources ensure that the garden looks fresh and healthy. Always consider the budget before you design the garden plan. You will not want to have multiple fountains or plants or other important garden plan elements if you do not have the right budget to fulfill those needs.

  • Understand the weather:
  • You do not wish to waste your efforts and go to waste right because of the wrong weather. When you try to understand how to design the perfect garden layout, you should always consider the weather that might come in the next few months. When you plan your garden design, consider the right weather conditions that will help you grow the plants or flowers you require.

  • Know the area:
  • Since you will be drawing the garden plan on a free garden plan maker, like EdrawMax, it is always advisable to take a note of the area for the right measurement. With the right measurement and scale, you will be able to create the garden plan just the way you would want in the real world.

  • Know elements:
  • Every garden plan comes with several elements. These elements can be categorized into hardscape and softscape. Hardscape elements can be any non-living element that you will fit in your garden. In comparison, the softscape elements would be trees, plants, shrubs, flowers, etc. Make a list of all these important garden elements as you go ahead and create the garden plan.

Preparation of Designing a Garden Plan:
  • Consider what you want to plant and consider the size of the planting space;
  • Consider your budget, which type of garden you may afford;
  • Consider when to plan your garden, which is the important point for garden design. You do not wish to waste your efforts and go to waste right because of the wrong weather;
  • Consider the right measurement, scale and important garden elements in order to be able to create the garden plan just the way you would want in the real world.

3. How to Design a Garden Plan in General

Now that you have decided that you need a garden in your house, you must be wondering how to design a garden plan? Well, there are basically two ways to create a garden plan. The first method is to design a garden layout from scratch, and the other method is when you work smartly and choose a tool, like EdrawMax, equipped with free templates and symbols. Here we will walk you through the basic ways of designing a garden layout.

If you follow these steps, remember that you carry a pen, pencil, eraser, ruler, blank pages, floor plan dimension, etc., along with you as they all will come in handy. Some of the most common methods of designing a garden plan for your house are:

  • General Framework:
  • The first step that you need to do in order to design a Garden Plan is to finalize a general framework. Understand whether your garden will be an odd-shaped or a formal garden. Once you have finalized the basic framework of the garden, you can take your copy and start tracing all the areas.

  • Examine the Property:
  • Before you start creating the garden plan, you should physically go and examine the land. Understand how it looks and what sort of plans will look good here. If you have a camera with you, then go ahead and click some pictures, as they all will come in handy when you start designing the garden plan.

  • List out Components:
  • Several important components fall under garden planning. Some of them are softscape (trees, plants, grass, and mulches), hardscape (sidewalks, walls, fences, patios, and pavers), decor (tree hangers, pottery, lighting, and water features), and supporting features (birdhouses, beehives, and treehouses). You should list all such components that you think will accompany your garden design.

  • Add Individual Pieces:
  • Start adding individual components to your garden design. This way, you will understand which components look good and which components you need to change by adding individual pieces.

  • Understand Layout:
  • Remember that you have limited space on paper, so you should correctly mark the space and area that goes along with your garden planning.

  • Add Important Equipment:
  • When designing a garden plan, you should always think about the future. Always add some of the space that might come in handy in the future.

  • Lay it on Ground:
  • Once you have finalized everything, you should visit the property and see how your components and elements look on the ground area.

  • Take Feedback:
  • After creating the garden plan on your paper, you should send it across to your friends, family, or some gardening experts. It will help you get a different perspective and will only help create a better garden for your property.

How to Start Designing a Garden Plan :
  • Remember that you carry a pen, pencil, eraser, ruler, blank pages, floor plan dimension, etc;
  • Finalize the basic framework of the garden;
  • Physically go and examine the land;
  • List all such components that you think will accompany your garden design;
  • Start adding individual components to your garden design;
  • Mark the space and area that goes along with your garden planning;
  • Try to get a different perspective from your friends, family, or some gardening experts.

4. How to Design a Garden Plan in EdrawMax

Now that you have seen the tedious way of creating a garden plan let us help you easily create it using EdrawMax. When you launch EdrawMax, you will find that there are two ways of creating a garden plan -- one is for the beginners who wish to customize the free template collection, and another one is for the experts who know their way around the garden components, dimensions, and scale.

4.1 Design a Garden Plan from Scratch

Step1 Login to EdrawMax

If you are using the offline version of EdrawMax, then open the tool in your system. If you wish to have remote collaboration, head to https://www.edrawmax.com/online/ and log in using your registered email address. If this is your first time using the tool, you can register yourself using your personal or professional email address. Go to 'Building Plan' and then click on 'Garden Design.'

how to design a garden plan

Step2 Open a New Canvas

Since you are creating the garden plan from scratch, you can click '+.' It will open up the user-friendly EdrawMax canvas that comes with a ton of design features, like dimensions, symbols, texts, hand-drawing tools, export options and more. Create the basic outline and properly scale it as per the measurements that you have.

how to design a garden plan

Step3 Find Garden Symbols

Every garden plan diagram is incomplete without symbols. Head to the 'Symbols' section and click on the 'Predefined Symbol' section from the top toolbar. Click on 'Floor Plan,' It will open up several important pre-built symbols, like Garden, Building Plan, etc. Click on 'Garden,' and you will see that all the important garden plan symbols have been imported into the symbol library. Or you can find more symbols and meanings from this garden symbols guide.

how to design a garden plan

Step4 Add Elements

Once you have imported all the symbols, you can start placing them in the garden design that you have created in Step #2. You can add softscape and hardscape in the design plan and find other important decorating items from the element section. There are toolbar on the right and top of canvas, just choose one and edit your garden design from color, theme, font, size, and more.

how to design a garden plan

Step5 Save & Export

After designing the garden plan, you can export it into multiple formats, like JPEG, JPG, PNG, PDF, and other Microsoft formats, like MS Word, MS Excel, PPTX, and more. You can also share the garden design on different social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

how to design a garden plan


4.2 Design a Garden Plan from Templates

Step1 Login to EdrawMax

If you are using the offline version of EdrawMax, then open the tool in your system. If you wish to have remote collaboration, head to EdrawMax Template Community and log in using your registered email address. If this is your first time using the tool, you can register yourself using your personal or professional email address. Go to the 'Templates' section on the left and type 'Garden Plan.'

how to design a garden plan

Step2 Choose a Template

From the template community, you will find hundreds of built-in templates readily available to use. Choose any of the templates that closely resemble your dream garden and duplicate it to 'Use Immediately.'

how to design a garden plan

Step3 Change Details

Once you have imported the free built-in template to the EdrawMax canvas, you can change basic details as required. You can modify the font, change the background color, and add certain features, like the top view of trees, outdoor furniture, plants & architectural elements, fences, sun loungers, and more. Based on your vision, you can use these garden symbols in your Garden design.

how to design a garden plan

Step4 Export or Publish

Once your garden plan design is ready, you can export it to multiple formats as mentioned above or publish it to the template community for the other 25 million registered users to see and get inspired by your design.

how to design a garden plan

Basically, it is simple to draw a garden plan in EdrawMax, just grab a template and keep customizing, drag and drop professinal office garden symbols to make your plan better. If you are still confusing about how to draw a garden plan in EdrawMax, just check the video below or learn more from our Youtube channel.

5. Tips & Consideration

Both the methods of creating the garden design in EdrawMax are well suited for beginners and experts. However, if you are a newbie and have never worked on any garden design, going with the free templates would be the right choice. At the same time, if you are an experienced designer who knows your way around the drawing tools and architect's scale, you can choose the method to create the garden design from scratch. There are several advantages of using each of these methods, like:

Advantages of creating a garden plan from scratch:

  • Great for experts
  • You can create your unique garden plans
  • You can inspire others by publishing your garden plan designs to the community
  • You will know all the intrinsic details of your garden plan since you have designed it from scratch.

Advantages of creating a garden plan using free templates:

  • Can duplicate any or all designs as per your wish
  • Best for the amateurs or beginners
  • You can create a garden plan design in just a few minutes
  • All the garden plan designs will be technically correct

5.1 Symbol Libraries

EdrawMax comes with an extensive set of symbol libraries. With over 50,000 vector-enabled symbols, you can easily create any type of diagram. If somehow you do not find the symbols you are looking for, you can easily import some images/icons or create the shape and save it as a symbol for your future usage. All the vector-enabled symbols at EdrawMax can easily be resized, reshaped, recolored, and reformatted as per your requirement.

In EdrawMax, simply head to the 'Symbols' section and click on the 'Predefined Symbol' section from the top toolbar. Here you will find hundreds of categories of symbols that are readily available for you to use and import into your garden plan design.

5.2 Template Community

EdrawMax has an extensive template collection. We have over 25 million registered users who have created extensive templates that go along with every design. Just head to the template section from the left panel and type whatever template you are looking for in the search bar. It will open up hundreds of pre-built templates that you can immediately use for your current requirement.

edrawmax template community


6. Free Garden Plan Software

Garden planning can be a daunting task, but everything can be done easily with the right tool. With the user-friendly features of this free garden design software, you can easily create your garden plans. EdrawMax is considered the all-in-one diagramming tool, well equipped with garden design symbols and templates. There are some great features of using this free garden plan software for your personal or professional usage, like:

  • EdrawMax comes with free garden plan examples & templates that are 100 percent customizable and editable.
  • With the present built-in option, you can easily share the garden plan design with your team and see the live revisions made by your team.
  • EdrawMax Online has a strong community of 25 million users who update the template community with their creative projects.
  • EdrawMax is considered the best free garden plan software for beginners and professionals because of the user-friendly dashboard and easy drag-and-drop feature.
  • All of your garden plan designs are encrypted to the highest level of security. So, you do not have to worry about losing your creative designs.
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7. Final Thoughts

When you start designing a garden plan for your house, ensure you have developed a detailed and workable plan. At the same time, always ensure that you have prepared an all-inclusive plan that will help you and your architect. As you saw in this elaborated guide, EdrawMax is created by professionals, and it takes you only a couple of minutes to design your garden plan. Unlike other platform-dependent software, this free garden plan maker is robust and allows you to create the garden layout effectively.

As you saw in this article, EdrawMax is tailored to create professional and presentation-quality garden designs for your house. With EdrawMax, it takes only a couple of minutes to import the attractive garden symbols on your dashboard. With the amazing collection of vector-based symbols, you add value to the designs and ensure that you save your money in the long run.

garden plan image

Garden Plan Complete Guide

Check this complete guide to know everything about garden plan, like garden plan types, garden plan symbols, and how to make a garden design.

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