Before you start planting, you want to map out the area you are landscaping. Place everything where you would like it to be to scale - if you want to make things easy on yourself, use the design software for this task. Separating your front yard from your backyard space is an important step when starting a home landscaping project. Landscape design software ensures your visions for the spaces are practical but you can easily get carried away so be sure to limit yourself to one space at a time.

Pool and deck areas need to be designed in first, then add the greenery. Because they are alive, we must leave room for trees and shrubs to grow so they won't need to be removed later if they are planted too close to structures. Young plants and trees can grow to take up a lot of room - it's important to consider this when placing structures and additional elements. One of the best ideas when landscaping is to include a little garden in your plans, as long as it is far from other structures, such as a pool or sitting area.

Some people desire a yard full of vibrant flowers. If you find yourself with a boring yard, try livening things up with some brightly colored flowers. Most software gives you the ability to create flowerbeds of different colors in your virtual designs. This makes it easy to see how different colors will go with the landscaping as a whole. The software might even allow you to create a list of the flowers you prefer and bring it with you to the garden center.

If you've ever gazed at some of the beautifully landscaped yards on your street and wondered if yours could ever look like that, it can! Your yard will become a beautiful living space for your family to enjoy, if you only spend a little time with your landscape design software.

BRAND	COST	REVIEW	RATING
Google SketchUp	Free	Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create 3D models of anything you like. Not made specifically for landscaping designs, but you can be creative and have fun trying.
Design Workshop	Free	Not too complicated, and still fun to play around with. Great quality for a free product. An excellent, easy to use, and powerful enough to design a bathroom. A decent learning curve, so be prepared to spend some boring time at the manual. Either some features don't exist, or I have simply not found them yet.
Total 3D Home Design Delux	$29.95	Total 3D Home Deluxe is not as eye-candy-filled as the higher-ranked programs, but it has some really interesting design options to play with, like the Decorating Tools. You can choose any room in the house, and “decorate” each room with pre-designed templates, or make your own. It’s easy to use, and fun!
Instant Home Design 3.0	$9.19	Instant Home Design 3.0 is definitely an entry-level program, offering home design newcomers all the basic features they need for a low price tag. There are no landscaping features available in this program; it is strictly for home design.
SmartDraw	Free 30 day $220 after	I’ve had this software for a while. To me it was a good investment because I use it for other things. I’ve designed with it a few times but generally rely on my professional software for landscaping plans. They offer a free 30 day trial version. I see the free trial version like this. If you can design your yard in less than 30 days, You don’t need to buy it.
Punch Super Home	$13	This product has come a long way since I first tried it. I have to admit that I like this one too. However, it's not one of my top picks. The drawing tools are a little more advanced and there's plenty of them. They take a little getting used to. However, once you figure them out, it moves very quickly.
Pulsar USA	$295	Powerful and sophisticated, yet easy to use, these two indoor layout software packages are ideal for the kitchen specialist, decorator, designer, closet, garage furniture, contractor or anyone else planning interior home renovation projects in metric or imperial measurements.  Every object in every picture was created with-in DecoTech™ and or Pro100, imagine what you can do.
Plan3D	$3/month	Design one room, create a three story home, remodel a bathroom or kitchen, or redo your yard. Plan3D lets you see ideas with dimensions in blueprint-like mode. When I first used this app the functionality was poor. However, developers have made alot of improvements and soon to be 3 out of 5 stars.
Pro100	$30-$80	Pro100 is the perfect product for any interior design job.  Are you a Kitchen Dealer looking for 3D Kitchen Design Software or a Remodeler looking for Remodeling Software?  Pro100 is both and more.  Pro100 is also an Office Design or Office Layout Software.  While we are at it, Pro100 is also Closet Layout Software.  Do you sell Garage Furniture or Garage Cabinets.  Pro100 is also great Garage Design Software.  Pro100 is better then 20/20 Design Software if you need to do any custom work.  With Pro100 you can create any cabinet you can dream up.  With the Pro100 Shape Editor you can create custom shaped parts for you projects.