Does any know of any out there that are worthwhile? I downloaded SmartDraw but its not all that great. I have a huge amount of land I need to get done in the back yard, approximately 8000sqft more. I have a good amount with concrete but would like to make our backyard an oasis for my family.

I'm looking at doing the majority of the work myself. I might hire Gary though if he's up for it.:-)

Seriously though anyone know of anything?
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Jay I know the punch home design software does landscape as well. I have used the home design stuff but have not played with the landscape stuff yet. As far as the software goes though it is pricey but very easy to use.
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AutoCAD? Steep price, but works good. I have no experience with it for Civil type work, but lots of work with AutoCAD for structural.
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What are you looking at doing? Landscape software will not do you much good without a CAD survey. And if it's just lines that you know or can trace, a pencil and a good ruler/scale will be just fine. The hard part about landscape design is plant choice. That will take much more research than the dseign itself.
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do a soil survey,

our local extension (land management) office will do it for $5 and they give you a list (about 3 pages) of plants that will thrive, struggle, and that you should avoid.
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Soil test is important. Take pictures of plants you see that interest you if you're unsure what they are.
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Besides the price, AutoCAD has kind of a steep learning curve too, it's a a little much for the typical casual / one time user. For the casual / one-time user with no CAD training, I would recommend Microsoft Visio, it's easier to learn for the basic use, the stamps/templates premade objects make things much simpler and faster ("Plug n' play AutoCAD"). Sure, it's not as powerful, but it's all that most home users would need (and more, really, when you get into it) all at about a tenth of the price if you're going to buy it.
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Agree
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What about google sketch up? If you just want a rough design to see what it could look like it might be a good option. It's free and fairly easy to use the basics. The punch software is good, but kind of expensive hard to learn, just not as hard as CAD.
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I'm looking at making a water feature of some sort that will replace the mound of dirt that is acting as a current retaining wall (corner really and it's approx. 500sqft of dirt). I also want to make an outdoor bbq area (perhaps covered), and a play area for the kids. That for right now are my definites. Everything else in due time (pool possibly but no time in the near future).

I'm not that worried about soil because the only thing my wife and I plan on planting are a lemon tree, an orange tree, and a few cypress trees along one side of the house because you can look directly into our backyard from a trail alongside the house. The cypress trees are for the shade but most importantly privacy from the nosey a$$ neighbors.


Visio is a great tool. I would consider myself a pro at it since I've been using it for the last 12 years. We use it at work to construct our communications architectures. But I was looking for something more specific towards landscaping so it could give me a visual of dimensions and ideas as well.
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Check your PMs Jay.


Ron
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