3D Home Landscape Designer

Amazon.com Product Description:
Easily design your ideal landscape around a virtual image of your home with 3D Home Landscape Designer 4.0. View your creation over time and through the seasons, all in 3-D. Use the extensive plant encyclopedia to select the perfect plants for your garden and expand your botanical knowledge. The encyclopedia features 7,500 plants with 9,500 photos. Find facts on growth zones, climate, soil, and more. View 100 plant-care demonstrations and look through 600 illustrated solutions to garden problems. The software also features instant 3-D viewing of your designs with onscreen plant growth and seasonal changes and slope and elevation modeling. Even view your garden during the day or night or add 3-D garden objects like gazebos, fences, lighting, and more.

DON'T EVEN CONSIDER THIS JUNK:
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.

What a waste of time and money.:
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.

Toy, not a tool:
Not what you would expect, even for $$$. After many hours, I have a house model that still doesn't look like mine. You can't type in your house dimensions. Instead you have to rely on dragging the corners, a process which is way to coarse. The fence options look like something from Disneyland. They don't mention that amongst the 7000 plants, there are numerous varieties of carrots, melons, etc. Come on folks, that is just plain misleading. I have a 70 year old Douglas Fir tree in my front yard, which doesn't look like an overgrown Christmas tree, the only option offered by this program. There is no way to edit the models or introduce your own. Don't expect to do any serious work with this program. It is just a video game

Useless without 3D Home Architech:
The basis of landscape is to fit it to your house. Unfortunately, if you don't have 3D Home Architech already, you're hosed in having any chance of devolping anything useful that looks like your house. Buyer beware - you need the suite - and there's no warning that 3D Home Architect is needed. And once you've bought this software, you are destined to buy more outdated software to make it useable - so you might as well go for it all with the suite. It has been a long time since I have bought any Broderbund software, and it will be longer yet, as in never!

Both thumbs down . . .:
The program has potential with a bit more refining, flexibility and power incorporated into it's structure. The plant database was a pleasant surprise though realize it would have to be much larger to accomodate all horticultural regions of the U.S. Basically, not a fully "baked" tool at this juncture unfortunately there are not many alternatives available.