Rating: 
Summary: This is a terrible program
Review: ... The graphics are extremely crude and inaccurate. You can't get a decent close up view of the garden.The plant encyclopedia does not work properly. You can't do a proper search and the filters do not work very well. I was very disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Please read before you buy this product
Review: After many hours of frustrating work I finally gave up on this product. I couldn't even find a way to draw a plot plan that wasn't a rectangle. My wife tried also and gave up. The manual is very sketchy and of little value. There are a limited number of objects to place in your design so you have to substitute token items for real structures. I highly recommend you do not buy this product. Look for something that has reasonable documentation and enough capability to describe something more than a rectangular patch.
Rating:
Summary: I Could Not be More Disappointed
Review: Do not purchase this software. Unless you have already designed a house using 3D Home Architect (a wasted process if you already live in a house), then you should be able to add landscape design with this product. If you want to add landscape design to the house you already own, using this as a piece of stand-alone software, simply do not waste your time. - This is really a companion product to 3D Home Architect, it does not stand alone well. - I'll bet you are looking for a product in which you can 1. Draw your lot (fairly straight forward with this product), and then 2. Add the house you live in (forget it, you can only pull from a library of houses, or import the house you designed in 3D Home Architect); then 3, add landscaping (perhaps that's doable, but with effort). - Forget using the Tutorial. It is on-line and a fairly robust product, however, the tutorial is not for this product, it is for 3D Home Architect. You have to wade though pages of stuff that does not apply to what you want to do, then the portion dealing with Home Landscape is weak at best. - The documentation is impressive, IF you purchased 3D Home Architect. Out of a 396 page book, 3D Home Landscape is not treated until page 259. Then you are presented with a gillion tools to define terrain, create hills and valleys, create plateaus, create slopes, create paths, create pads, create fills, insert edging...the list goes on and on, but is very short on 'create a flower bed,' 'plant a tree...' etc. - I asked for on-line help. I sent an e-mail. The web site said I would be answered in 4-6 hours. 20 hours later, I got a canned answer to a question I did not even ask. It was as if someone cut and pasted an answer related to my question, but with no personal interest in my problem. My question was: "Can I draw in a plan view of my house on the property?" The answer was, "we have a lot of sample houses you can import from a catalog of houses..." Bottom line, is No, you cannot start out with your house. Wish it could be better news. Broderbund needs to put this in the hands of a software designer who has just moved into a new house which has no yard. It is fixable.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Rigid
Review: I found this software to be quite versatile once I learned my way around. I was able to create a surprisingly realistic 3-D scape of my house and yard and it certainly has helped me to be able to visualize what I wanted to do. The program will never make your garden look real, but to expect as much would be ridiculous. Having said that, there are two issues I have with the software. First and foremost, the program restricts you from placing trees that exceed the "typical" height of the species - in my case I have two rock maples that must be over 60' tall, but the program won't let me make them big enough. Second, the program does not do a good enough job with the plant encyclopedia. Common names are often inaccurate and it was only after much searching that I was able to find many common plants listed under bizarre names. Also, some obvious species are missing. No oregano or coriander, for example! Broderbund needs to make the architecture open enough to allow open exchange so users can create and share new plant species. Still, it's easy to "fudge" something like coriander, and there's a wealth of great data in there. I enjoy it thoroughly!
Rating: 
Summary: Underrated
Review: I found this software to be quite versatile once I learned my way around. I was able to create a surprisingly realistic 3-D scape of my house and yard and it certainly has helped me to be able to visualize what I wanted to do. The program will never make your garden look real, but to expect as much would be ridiculous. Having said that, there are two issues I have with the software. First and foremost, the program restricts you from placing trees that exceed the "typical" height of the species - in my case I have two rock maples that must be over 60' tall, but the program won't let me make them big enough. Second, the program does not do a good enough job with the plant encyclopedia. Common names are often inaccurate and it was only after much searching that I was able to find many common plants listed under bizarre names. Also, some obvious species are missing. No oregano or coriander, for example! Broderbund needs to make the architecture open enough to allow open exchange so users can create and share new plant species. Still, it's easy to "fudge" something like coriander, and there's a wealth of great data in there. I enjoy it thoroughly!
Rating:
Summary: What a waste of time and money.
Review: I purchased the landscape design software recommended on Victory Garden - what a waste of time and money (Staples will not refund software that has been opened). I tried several times to get past the first few basic steps of positioning the house on the lot and after hours of frustration I just gave up and removed the program from my computer. I didn't get anywhere near the "design" step. I use a computer 40+ hours a week at work, so I'm pretty savy, but this program is not user friendly. It focuses way too much on the 3-D glitter and not enough on useful and usable tools for the home landscaper.
Rating:
Summary: What a waste of time and money.
Review: I purchased this software because it was the only software I could find to do 3D landscaping. I thought I got a great deal when it was discounted from $54.95 to $6.98, but I found I paid too much. Its not even worth the hard drive space it takes up. The software feezes up frequently, the drawing features are very limited...only lets you draw your yard and home in retangular shapes. Not intuitive at all. Very limited plant encyclopedia. I'm sorry I wasted the postage.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T EVEN CONSIDER THIS JUNK
Review: I purchased this software because it was the only software I could find to do 3D landscaping. I thought I got a great deal when it was discounted from $54.95 to $6.98, but I found I paid too much. Its not even worth the hard drive space it takes up. The software feezes up frequently, the drawing features are very limited...only lets you draw your yard and home in retangular shapes. Not intuitive at all. Very limited plant encyclopedia. I'm sorry I wasted the postage.
Rating: 
Summary: Against my better judgement, I bought this program
Review: I read the reviews, but I was desperate for a landscaping program. If you have a small and simple lot, you may be ok with this. Most of the plants and trees that I have are not in the plant encylopedia in this program. I would spend the extra money for a more comprehensive and eaiser to use program, but I haven't seen one with reliably good reviews yet, and I have already purchased 4 different programs. The easiest one I have used is an old program by SoftKey, but it lacks a decent plant directory as well.
Rating:
Summary: Too Rigid
Review: I thought this program would give me the flexibility to create a model of my home and landscape but the models are too rigid. Also, the plant encyclopedia has the oddest "common" names for plants I have ever seen. I'm going to have to try out other programs to see if there are any with more realistic options. I like the graphics, though.
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