The garden drawing board
Your space.
A clearer plan.
Draw your space, see it in 3D and explore sun and shade. Use measured objects and a visible scale. Every edit is available through a form, including position and size.
Replaces the current drawing. Undo restores it. Examples are concepts that require your site checks.
See the space, then check the light
Your drawing in 3D & sunlight
Use the same objects in both views. Set their vertical heights in “Edit an object”, then enter your site and explore a date. Nothing leaves this browser. Open the sun settings below when you are ready to study your site.
Drag the 3D view to turn it, or use the buttons and keyboard. Orange outlines show the object selected in the edit form. The view uses simplified cylinders and blocks, with the same scale in all three dimensions.
Sun & shade settings
Enter decimal coordinates and the UTC offset for your chosen date, including daylight saving. No address lookup, map service or location permission is needed. North is clockwise from the top of the drawing: 0° = top, 90° = right.
One day, across your garden
Gold: 6+ h sunPale green: 2–6 h part shadeBlue green: under 2 h shade
How to interpret this study
The solar position follows the NOAA fractional-year equations. Shadows project onto level ground. The daily map samples the centre of each of 64 cells every 30 minutes; it estimates unblocked direct sun on that date, rather than light intensity.
Only objects with a height cast shadows. Tree crowns are opaque cylinders above a clear trunk; shrubs and other plants are solid cylinders. Enter measured building heights and canopy bases. Add neighbouring obstructions inside a suitably enlarged drawing. Terrain, weather, off-plan obstacles, canopy gaps, seasonal leaf loss and future growth are excluded. A tree’s own shade appears on the ground map.
Compare several dates and actual site observations before choosing plants. This is an orientation tool, not a survey, structural specification or professional solar study. Default heights are illustrative; sourced mature heights added with plant candidates are not measurements of an existing plant.
Layout checks
Checks cover boundaries and the drawn circles or rectangles. Crop root-position circles do not check mature foliage overlap. They cannot certify access, construction, loading, plant compatibility or drainage. Plant canopy overlap may be intentional.
Reserves the upper source-reported mature spread. Read the profile for light, soil and local suitability. Move the new circle to a suitable position.
Restore a downloaded plan
Choose a Garden Ideas Now JSON plan, up to 1 MB. A valid import replaces the current drawing; Undo can restore it. Keep an export of any work you want to retain.
Saved in this browser on this device when storage is available. Download a copy before clearing browser data, changing device or using private browsing. The drawing is an arrangement tool; qualified local review is still needed for structural, electrical, tree-root or drainage work.