SmartDraw's landscape design software makes it easy to design your next outdoor space with built-in templates for landscapes, gardens, backyards, and more. Start with any of the built-in templates and drag-and-drop flowers, shrubs, grasses and other plants. You can add sprinkler systems and other structures like lights, walkways, pools, and furniture. You can even easily apply brick patterns and photo-realistic textures!
Search SmartDraw's vast collection of symbols for any plant or structural element you need and add it to your design. With shape data, you can even add information like cost and export a manifest to help generate a shopping or material list and price out a proposal.
SmartDraw works hand in glove with your existing AI workflow whether you prefer ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or something else. Use your AI to jumpstart your design process by creating mood boards based on style, climate and functional requirements. Generate a list of plant recommendations based on local weather data, USDA zones, soil reports, and drought tolerance. Easily add any generated images to SmartDraw to enhance your project.
Take your landscape designed in SmartDraw's landscape design software and ask AI to visualize how your design may look during different seasons or different lighting conditions.
Most landscape plans are drawn with a 1:8 scale. SmartDraw supports all common scales and even lets you change the scale at any time.
SmartDraw is easy to work with no matter what other apps you use. You can add landscape designs to:
SmartDraw works hand in glove with most file storage systems. You can save your landscape plans directly to:
There is no need to create a parallel set of common folders and permissions, SmartDraw can just save files directly into your existing set up.
Share your landscape design with anyone, even if they don't own a copy of SmartDraw, with a link. You can also easily export any diagram as a PDF or common image formats like PNG or SVG.
Have a question? Chat or email us. SmartDraw support is in-house and free!
Landscaping software that lets you design landscapes and collaborate seamlessly in real time. Whether you're a DIY homeowner or a professional landscaper, you can share your landscape project and let others offer feedback or make modifications.
Easily spec out a landscape design for a client or inspire your team by working together directly within SmartDraw. You can invite collaborators via email or share your design in Microsoft Teams®, Slack, or Confluence.
SmartDraw's landscape design software comes with templates to design both residential and commercial landscapes. You'll also get templates for decks, patios, gardens, and more.
Each landscape design template is set to a default scale of 1 inch = 8 feet. You can change the scale at any time from the SmartPanel to any standard scale or set your own custom scale.
A landscape plan should begin with a broad overview of the project area. This is your basic outline to which you can slowly add elements. Decide on the area to be depicted in the drawing. Begin by drawing boundaries of the area. It might be the edge of a garden, the end of the yard, or a fence.
Add any rocks, waterways, buildings, poles, slopes, and other features that cannot or will not be moved during the landscaping process. Be sure to use the correct symbols and colors for these as well. You may also want to note North on your design to help you understand how the sun and shadows may change the landscape.
Add plant life such as shrubbery, trees, and flowers and draw in walkways and stairs. Add any lawn furniture, pools, sheds, gazebos, buildings, and fountains that you plan to install.
Add colors and photo-realistic textures to show an area meant to be used for grass, bricks, paving stones or whatever surface your plan calls for.
You can export your landscape as an image file like a PNG or SVG or save it as a PDF. You can also share your landscape design with anyone using a link.
SmartDraw makes it easy to design any outdoor space for your home or commercial building. You'll get dozens of templates and examples that you can quickly customize or you can design your plan from scratch.
It makes no difference whether you're a novice or a seasoned landscape designer. SmartDraw combines ease of use with a robust set of design features.
With SmartDraw, you can quickly design and share your plans without having to learn difficult CAD software.
Landscape design software lets you quickly visualize what your final backyard or garden project may look like. It's an easy way to sketch out your plans to hand off to a professional contractor and make sure your vision for your outdoor space is effectively communicated.
In order to have a well-designed outdoor space, you'll need these elements in your landscape:
AI tools and LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude are great for generating designs in the early stages of planning for inspiration. However, the images they produce are not editable and not to scale. We recommend using LLMs alongside a tool like SmartDraw's landscape design software created specifically to design landscapes. This gives you the best of both worlds. You can translate a text prompt into an inspirational image and use SmartDraw to create a precise scaled drawing you can hand off to a contractor.
Think about a focal point like a seating area, outdoor kitchen, fountain, or pool. Add shade through umbrellas or pergolas. Your space should be relaxing and protected from the elements. Always leave enough room around patio furniture to avoid the look of an overcrowded space. Sometimes less is more. Finally, think about the colors and timing of any blooms, so your garden has a changing look and feel throughout the seasons.
SmartDraw's landscape design software is free for 7 days. You can create a plan and visualize your yard before spending money or even hiring a contractor. You can fully consider different landscape elements and design options, rearrange structures and plants and make sure your vision will fit your space.
With SmartDraw, you get the perfect mix of ease-of-use and powerful features for landscape design. Design your dream landscape with intuitive tools that let you define boundaries, drag-and-drop symbols, add photo-realistic textures, and import PDFs and AI generated images to scale. Best of all, you can use SmartDraw free for 7 days.
To help you move away from legacy software, SmartDraw can import and edit Visio® diagrams and stencils. See how good SmartDraw's Visio import is.
Depends on the software. Traditional CAD software has a reputation for being too complex and difficult. SmartDraw on the other hand is easy whether you're a beginner or a seasoned professional. SmartDraw offers tutorials and videos to make designing even easier. Learn how to make a landscape design here.
Using layers in SmartDraw allows you to group and separate items like your irrigation system and lighting so you can show and hide details or prevent editing of specific layers as needed. Learn more.
Discover why SmartDraw is the best landscape design app today.