A multipurpose living space that looks out on a Zenlike desert garden won the Growdown competition at Tucson Botanical Gardens.

Janis and Phil Van Wyck, owners of Van Wyck Projects, won the judge’s award last Sunday at the gardens’ first such event, subtitled “The Great Tucson Garden Design Challenge.”

Four landscape designers had three days to build gardens based on submitted plans on the theme “Small Gardens, Big Ideas.” Each contestant worked with 300 square feet of space, about the size as two spaces in a parking lot.

The gardens are on exhibit at the botanical gardens at least through April.

Everything in the Van Wycks’ “A Room With a View” entry was made for this garden, including the sloped metal roof of the three-walled “room” and a fountain in which water flows from a small boulder in a trough.

The soil-cement wall exposes embedded rock, while a mature palo verde soars above the “room” to provide shade for agaves and salvias.

A planter inserted into a pony wall sparkles with jewel-toned succulents.

The wood floor and benches with upholstered cushions allow for a variety of uses: yoga, sleeping, relaxing and entertaining.

“We wanted an outdoor, protected space that’s easy to maintain,” Janis Van Wyck says.

Scott Calhoun won the people’s choice award for his colorful border-inspired patio.

The design by the owner of Zona Gardens includes more than 30 ceramic pots filled with silver cacti, rust-colored steel wall panels with circular cutouts and pot shelves, and a matching chiminea with a grill.

He adds vibrant color with tangerine and teal walls and plastic-piping chairs and ottomans, along with old Sonora, Mexico, license plates as hanging artwork.

Here are what the other designers did:

• Ezra Roati of REALM, an Urban Organics Company, flanks a water-harvesting and planted arroyo with a dog play area and edible plants in containers of corrugated panels.

A concrete bench in “An Urban Arroyo” allows a good view of both sides.

• Christine Jeffrey’s “Modern Desert Garden” combines gabion seating, a shade sail, purple dagger yucca and a block wall with shrubs planted in the top bricks.

The designer with LJ Design Consulting adds color with baby blue- and terra cotta-hued tiles forming small squares in the sandy stone floor.

If you go

• What: Growdown exhibit of four small gardens by local landscape designers.

• Where: Tucson Botanical Gardens, 2150 N. Alvernon Way.

• When: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. through April.

• Admission: $13; discounts available.

• Information: 326-9686, www.tucsonbotanical.org

To-do list for April

There’s April work to be done in the yard, according to the Tucson Botanical Gardens’ horticulturists.

• Clean and repair your drip irrigation system and adjust it for warm-weather watering.

• Prune frost-damaged shrubs.

• Finish spring planting and start summer veggies, including melon, squash, cucumber, eggplant and okra.

• Fertilize roses, irises and container flowers.

Contact Tucson freelance writer Elena Acoba at acoba@dakotacom.net

Meg Liptrot gains fresh perspective on drought at Victoria’s Royal Botanic Gardens

Our neighbours across the Tasman can certainly give some perspective when dealing with drought. A recently completed public garden on the outskirts of Melbourne has pulled out the stops and celebrates Australia’s plant biodiversity amid the climate and landscape extremes of this vast continent.

We visited the Australian Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne, in January, just before the huge fires swept through New South Wales and just as Tasmania’s fires were starting.

You could feel the heat by mid-morning and the signs were there. Extreme fire risk warnings peppered the walking tracks off the main carpark. We armed ourselves with hats, white shirts and drink bottles.

Our first vision of the Australia Garden was a view of the dramatic “Red Sand Garden”, which takes centre stage below the visitors’ centre. It’s a graphic representation of the hot, red desert of central Australia and is an Aussie masterpiece.

There are subtle touches evocative of Aboriginal paintings in the cream-coloured shapes which represent ephemeral lakes in sculptural form. Small mass-planted grey-green islands are like finger dots made by a giant hand. The grey foliage consists of inland plants such as Hedge Saltbush (Rhagodia spinescens), contrasting with the burnt-ochre colour of the sand.

The painting offers seasonal interest, when Albany Daisy (Actinodium) and a decent swathe of Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos) bloom.

The 15ha Australian Garden site is designed to represent the diverse landscapes of the Australian continent. It is situated on an old sand mine, and the remnant bushland in the area is part of a greater 363ha park on the southeastern outskirts of Melbourne. The land (once a huge sandhill) was known as “Towbeet” and was the ancestral home of the Mayone-bulluk clan of the Boon Wurrung people (Kulin Nation).

The Cranbourne gardens are a division of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, and specialise in Australian native plants. In 1994, landscape architects Taylor Cullity were chosen to design the “Australia Garden” in association with one of the country’s leading planting designers, Paul Thompson. The first stage opened in May 2006, and the second phase and final part of the design was opened in October 2012. The garden is a “new kind of botanic garden”, designed to “invoke and reflect the relationships between plants, landscapes and culture”.

A meandering pathway leads around the giant central red sand garden to outer lying theme gardens (designed by a number of firms), such as the . “Diversity Garden”, the “Water Saving Garden”, and a “Future Garden”. The “Home Garden” showcases fragments of Australian garden design history; the “Kids’ Garden” is designed to inspire the most creative eco-friendly backyard with natural materials. The sound of water drew me over to the Rockpool Waterway, where visitors are invited to cool down by wandering through paved “rocks” in a river of shallow water. The weighty presence of the 90m red iron “Escarpment Wall” sculpture fits perfectly here.

Beyond the rock pool waterway lies a river walk and sequence of lakes which take varied and contrasting sculptural forms. The “Melaleuca Spits” feature a symbolic estuary and coastal plantings. Bright, white, serpentine sand fingers break up what could have been a plain lake edge. The experimentation with form and materials, the attention to detail, and playfulness in the hard landscaping make the Australia Garden a stand-out. And there’s a message attached, to take care of these sensitive environments and live lightly on the land.

We made our way up Howson Hill, which provides a good lookout and a bit of breeze. Nearby, the recently built “Arbor Garden”, with its fine metal framework, will in time be a valuable asset for local gardeners interested in researching appropriate plants for vertical gardening, as will the cultivar and research gardens. At this point, the heat was getting to me, and in a timely location we found a kiosk where Aussie ice blocks were on offer, and we refilled our drink bottles. Heading back we made our way through the “Gondwana Garden” and up the “Rift Path”, which is flanked by two inclining, monumental rammed earth walls. I paused to soak up the relative cool of the earth wall, which was lovely to lean against.

A subtle highlight was the ironbark garden in the Eucalypt Walk. The elegant markings of the bark were showcased in repetitive plantings. The heat truly does release essential oils from the leaves of these Australian native plants. The peppermint garden is a particularly enjoyable sensory experience. The peppermint is not as we know it, rather a curious range of herbaceous plants native to Australia, such as Lemon-Scented Dawinia.

We made it back to the carpark and, as I suspected, the outside temperature on the car’s thermometer was over 40C. It would be worth returning to these gardens in a few years’ time as the plantings mature, to see the designer’s vision fleshed-out more completely.

• Meg Liptrot travelled to Melbourne courtesy of Silversea (Sydney to Auckland Cruise). Thanks also to Louis Le Vaillant who provided inspiration (and transport) to visit the garden; he was great company, too.

By Meg Liptrot

Meg Liptrot gains fresh perspective on drought at Victoria’s Royal Botanic Gardens

Our neighbours across the Tasman can certainly give some perspective when dealing with drought. A recently completed public garden on the outskirts of Melbourne has pulled out the stops and celebrates Australia’s plant biodiversity amid the climate and landscape extremes of this vast continent.

We visited the Australian Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Cranbourne, in January, just before the huge fires swept through New South Wales and just as Tasmania’s fires were starting.

You could feel the heat by mid-morning and the signs were there. Extreme fire risk warnings peppered the walking tracks off the main carpark. We armed ourselves with hats, white shirts and drink bottles.

Our first vision of the Australia Garden was a view of the dramatic “Red Sand Garden”, which takes centre stage below the visitors’ centre. It’s a graphic representation of the hot, red desert of central Australia and is an Aussie masterpiece.

There are subtle touches evocative of Aboriginal paintings in the cream-coloured shapes which represent ephemeral lakes in sculptural form. Small mass-planted grey-green islands are like finger dots made by a giant hand. The grey foliage consists of inland plants such as Hedge Saltbush (Rhagodia spinescens), contrasting with the burnt-ochre colour of the sand.

The painting offers seasonal interest, when Albany Daisy (Actinodium) and a decent swathe of Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos) bloom.

The 15ha Australian Garden site is designed to represent the diverse landscapes of the Australian continent. It is situated on an old sand mine, and the remnant bushland in the area is part of a greater 363ha park on the southeastern outskirts of Melbourne. The land (once a huge sandhill) was known as “Towbeet” and was the ancestral home of the Mayone-bulluk clan of the Boon Wurrung people (Kulin Nation).

The Cranbourne gardens are a division of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, and specialise in Australian native plants. In 1994, landscape architects Taylor Cullity were chosen to design the “Australia Garden” in association with one of the country’s leading planting designers, Paul Thompson. The first stage opened in May 2006, and the second phase and final part of the design was opened in October 2012. The garden is a “new kind of botanic garden”, designed to “invoke and reflect the relationships between plants, landscapes and culture”.

A meandering pathway leads around the giant central red sand garden to outer lying theme gardens (designed by a number of firms), such as the . “Diversity Garden”, the “Water Saving Garden”, and a “Future Garden”. The “Home Garden” showcases fragments of Australian garden design history; the “Kids’ Garden” is designed to inspire the most creative eco-friendly backyard with natural materials. The sound of water drew me over to the Rockpool Waterway, where visitors are invited to cool down by wandering through paved “rocks” in a river of shallow water. The weighty presence of the 90m red iron “Escarpment Wall” sculpture fits perfectly here.

Beyond the rock pool waterway lies a river walk and sequence of lakes which take varied and contrasting sculptural forms. The “Melaleuca Spits” feature a symbolic estuary and coastal plantings. Bright, white, serpentine sand fingers break up what could have been a plain lake edge. The experimentation with form and materials, the attention to detail, and playfulness in the hard landscaping make the Australia Garden a stand-out. And there’s a message attached, to take care of these sensitive environments and live lightly on the land.

We made our way up Howson Hill, which provides a good lookout and a bit of breeze. Nearby, the recently built “Arbor Garden”, with its fine metal framework, will in time be a valuable asset for local gardeners interested in researching appropriate plants for vertical gardening, as will the cultivar and research gardens. At this point, the heat was getting to me, and in a timely location we found a kiosk where Aussie ice blocks were on offer, and we refilled our drink bottles. Heading back we made our way through the “Gondwana Garden” and up the “Rift Path”, which is flanked by two inclining, monumental rammed earth walls. I paused to soak up the relative cool of the earth wall, which was lovely to lean against.

A subtle highlight was the ironbark garden in the Eucalypt Walk. The elegant markings of the bark were showcased in repetitive plantings. The heat truly does release essential oils from the leaves of these Australian native plants. The peppermint garden is a particularly enjoyable sensory experience. The peppermint is not as we know it, rather a curious range of herbaceous plants native to Australia, such as Lemon-Scented Dawinia.

We made it back to the carpark and, as I suspected, the outside temperature on the car’s thermometer was over 40C. It would be worth returning to these gardens in a few years’ time as the plantings mature, to see the designer’s vision fleshed-out more completely.

• Meg Liptrot travelled to Melbourne courtesy of Silversea (Sydney to Auckland Cruise). Thanks also to Louis Le Vaillant who provided inspiration (and transport) to visit the garden; he was great company, too.

By Meg Liptrot

• 

IF YOU GO

What: “Putting Style into Your Garden,” lecture by John Carloftis.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Chattanooga State Community College Humanities Auditorium.

Admission: $15; proceeds go to Grandmothers Garden Fund.

Information: To register, go to chattanoogaanc.org or call 821-1160. For more about Jon Carloftis’ garden designs, go to joncarloftis.com.

GRANDMA’S TEA

A fundraising tea will be held in the Humphrey’s House at Chattanooga Arboretum Nature Center on May 11 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $35 for adults, $15 for children 8-13. Not recommended for children under 8. Register at chattanoogaanc.org.

It’s a place you’ll want to take grandma.

“Grandmothers Garden” is a new feature to be designed by nationally renowned garden designer Jon Carloftis at Chattanooga Arboretum Nature Center at Reflection Riding.

Carloftis, of Lexington, Ky., who will give a lecture about gardens next week at Chattanooga State Community College, says a “Grandmothers Garden” is made from old-fashioned plants.

Such plants are “both native and non-native, but not invasive, that were popular during the Arts and Crafts Movement (1860-1910) when people rebelled against the Industrial Revolution and wanted to use and buy things that were made by hand, including gardens,” Carloftis explains.

Groundbreaking for the garden will begin by the end of this year with plans to have it completed by the end of 2014, says Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center board member Margaret Hill.

The garden is also part of a greater effort to gain community support for the Arboretum and Nature Center, says Dennis Bishop, curator at the center.

“It is our hope that the Chattanooga community will embrace the entire Arboretum through this garden. We want Chattanoogans to make the Arboretum their own,” he says. “We are starting with two things no other Southeastern garden has — the spectacular scenery of Lookout Valley and a Nature Center that ties the Arboretum to our local animal life and the rest of the natural world.

“The Grandmothers Garden will provide one more reason for people come see what a fabulous place Chattanooga is.”

The garden will be built in memory of Marie Humphreys, Margaret Chambliss and all grandmothers, Bishop says.

Humphreys and her husband, Harold Humphreys, lived on the Reflection

Riding property for many years and assisted John and Margaret Chambliss with the development of Reflection Riding, a 317-acre area that was incorporated in 1956, according to chattanooganaturecenter.org.

Marie Humphreys and Margaret Chambliss were cornerstones of Reflection Riding, and two stone pavers will be set in their honor in the Grandmothers Garden, Bishop says.

“Around these two cornerstones, a paved stone patio will be built and dedicated to all of our grandmothers,” he says. “Pavers for the patio will be sold as part of a fundraiser for the garden. They will be engraved with the names of the purchaser’s grandmother.”

The garden will be funded entirely through donations, Bishop says.

Carloftis appreciates the efforts of the couples to preserve the land for the good use of future generations.

“My family has always been involved in saving land for the future and it has trickled down to all of us, including grandchildren. Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Carloftis says. “I’m involved in a group called Fayette Alliance in Lexington, Ky., that encourages people to stay inside the city limits and make it a place you would want to stay instead of moving out to the beautiful farms and turning them into suburban tract houses.

“That is why I’m so excited about the Chattanooga Arboretum where people can come visit and get their outdoor energies out before going back to the city or suburbia. You have to have places to go or else it won’t work.”

At Chattanooga State, Carloftis will offer tips on how to put style in any garden, whether it’s a flower garden, vegetable garden, indoor plants, woodland garden or potting sheds.

“Everything we do in the world of gardening can be done with lots of style,” he says. “And that doesn’t mean lots of money because the most innovative gardens I’ve seen are done with more ingenuity than money.”

Today’s gardener wants extras in gardens such as lighting, comfortable seating, even outdoor kitchens — and all that is fine, he says.

“If it takes these nice things to get us outside, off the computer and the big sofa watching TV, then it’s worth it,” he says.

Contact staff writer Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.

• 

IF YOU GO

What: “Putting Style into Your Garden,” lecture by John Carloftis.

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Where: Chattanooga State Community College Humanities Auditorium.

Admission: $15; proceeds go to Grandmothers Garden Fund.

Information: To register, go to chattanoogaanc.org or call 821-1160. For more about Jon Carloftis’ garden designs, go to joncarloftis.com.

GRANDMA’S TEA

A fundraising tea will be held in the Humphrey’s House at Chattanooga Arboretum Nature Center on May 11 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $35 for adults, $15 for children 8-13. Not recommended for children under 8. Register at chattanoogaanc.org.

It’s a place you’ll want to take grandma.

“Grandmothers Garden” is a new feature to be designed by nationally renowned garden designer Jon Carloftis at Chattanooga Arboretum Nature Center at Reflection Riding.

Carloftis, of Lexington, Ky., who will give a lecture about gardens next week at Chattanooga State Community College, says a “Grandmothers Garden” is made from old-fashioned plants.

Such plants are “both native and non-native, but not invasive, that were popular during the Arts and Crafts Movement (1860-1910) when people rebelled against the Industrial Revolution and wanted to use and buy things that were made by hand, including gardens,” Carloftis explains.

Groundbreaking for the garden will begin by the end of this year with plans to have it completed by the end of 2014, says Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center board member Margaret Hill.

The garden is also part of a greater effort to gain community support for the Arboretum and Nature Center, says Dennis Bishop, curator at the center.

“It is our hope that the Chattanooga community will embrace the entire Arboretum through this garden. We want Chattanoogans to make the Arboretum their own,” he says. “We are starting with two things no other Southeastern garden has — the spectacular scenery of Lookout Valley and a Nature Center that ties the Arboretum to our local animal life and the rest of the natural world.

“The Grandmothers Garden will provide one more reason for people come see what a fabulous place Chattanooga is.”

The garden will be built in memory of Marie Humphreys, Margaret Chambliss and all grandmothers, Bishop says.

Humphreys and her husband, Harold Humphreys, lived on the Reflection

Riding property for many years and assisted John and Margaret Chambliss with the development of Reflection Riding, a 317-acre area that was incorporated in 1956, according to chattanooganaturecenter.org.

Marie Humphreys and Margaret Chambliss were cornerstones of Reflection Riding, and two stone pavers will be set in their honor in the Grandmothers Garden, Bishop says.

“Around these two cornerstones, a paved stone patio will be built and dedicated to all of our grandmothers,” he says. “Pavers for the patio will be sold as part of a fundraiser for the garden. They will be engraved with the names of the purchaser’s grandmother.”

The garden will be funded entirely through donations, Bishop says.

Carloftis appreciates the efforts of the couples to preserve the land for the good use of future generations.

“My family has always been involved in saving land for the future and it has trickled down to all of us, including grandchildren. Once it’s gone, it’s gone,” Carloftis says. “I’m involved in a group called Fayette Alliance in Lexington, Ky., that encourages people to stay inside the city limits and make it a place you would want to stay instead of moving out to the beautiful farms and turning them into suburban tract houses.

“That is why I’m so excited about the Chattanooga Arboretum where people can come visit and get their outdoor energies out before going back to the city or suburbia. You have to have places to go or else it won’t work.”

At Chattanooga State, Carloftis will offer tips on how to put style in any garden, whether it’s a flower garden, vegetable garden, indoor plants, woodland garden or potting sheds.

“Everything we do in the world of gardening can be done with lots of style,” he says. “And that doesn’t mean lots of money because the most innovative gardens I’ve seen are done with more ingenuity than money.”

Today’s gardener wants extras in gardens such as lighting, comfortable seating, even outdoor kitchens — and all that is fine, he says.

“If it takes these nice things to get us outside, off the computer and the big sofa watching TV, then it’s worth it,” he says.

Contact staff writer Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.

WENN

Rockers Metallica have made a green-fingered fan’s dreams come true by handing out funds to help him develop his garden design for a prestigious British horticultural competition.

Arek Luc’s garden design, inspired by the band’s track “I Disappear,” was accepted to go on display at the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual flower show at Hampton Court in England in July, but the project was in jeopardy due to lack of funding.

The rockers were alerted to Luc’s plight by their manager Peter’s wife, former British politician Louise Mensch, who read about the design in a local publication, and the stars decided to dip into their own pockets to ensure the project went ahead as planned.

Luc tells Britain’s The Times newspaper, “Louise e-mailed me and asked how much I still needed. I couldn’t believe it when they sent me several thousand pounds.”

Mensch adds, “The whole band was tickled pink (delighted) by Arek’s garden. The band does a colossal amount of work for charity but it’s not usually associated with gardens.”

WENN

Rockers Metallica have made a green-fingered fan’s dreams come true by handing out funds to help him develop his garden design for a prestigious British horticultural competition.

Arek Luc’s garden design, inspired by the band’s track “I Disappear,” was accepted to go on display at the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual flower show at Hampton Court in England in July, but the project was in jeopardy due to lack of funding.

The rockers were alerted to Luc’s plight by their manager Peter’s wife, former British politician Louise Mensch, who read about the design in a local publication, and the stars decided to dip into their own pockets to ensure the project went ahead as planned.

Luc tells Britain’s The Times newspaper, “Louise e-mailed me and asked how much I still needed. I couldn’t believe it when they sent me several thousand pounds.”

Mensch adds, “The whole band was tickled pink (delighted) by Arek’s garden. The band does a colossal amount of work for charity but it’s not usually associated with gardens.”

Todd Nappi
Email

Follow Waseem Dar:

This week, App Smart was all about gardening because spring has sprung, or is about to. There are many apps that can help you in the garden, like plant reference guides or advice about garden bugs, and even apps that can help you manage your garden and its plants over time.

A useful reference is the free Android app Garden Plants Growing Guide. Unlike some of its peers, this app is a little pedestrian in design because of its plain lists of plants and simple pages full of text. But it contains an impressive database of flowers, vegetables and herbs — with more of an emphasis on flowers — and each entry has a photo and detailed advice on when to sow a plant and how to take care of it. You’ll have to know the Latin name for many of the flowers, though, because that is how the app lists them and there are no thumbnail photos in the flowers list to help identify them.

Fruit Garden is a slightly similar $0.99 Android and $1.99 iOS app with a focus on fruit plants. It’s a list of common varieties, with details on each to help you understand how to best plant and grow them. The app lacks useful extras like garden management facilities, and its list of plants is not exhaustive. But it has taught me how to better feed the orange trees in my garden.

The Gardening Guide is a much more detailed app that has lots of advice about planting and tending your garden. It’s aimed more at vegetable gardening than flower gardening, but each entry is well written and has comprehensive advice on each crop. For example, I learned that it’s a good idea to harvest lettuce in the morning, after the leaves have plumped with water overnight. It’s listed as The Gardening Guide From Mother Earth News on iTunes, and as Garden Guide in Google’s app store.

If you’re planning a bit of a spring garden redesign, the aptly named Garden Design Ideas, free on Android, may help. It’s a large list of photos of gardens, with no extra details or data on plants and so on because it’s all about a garden’s visuals. It shows all sorts of gardens, like modern ones or Japanese-style ones. This app is fairly simple, but it may frustrate you if you fixate on a particular design and want to know more about it.

Quick call

Pandora, one of the hottest music streaming apps out there, is finally available as a free Windows Phone 8 app — and as a sweetener, the app has no ads and no monthly streaming limit through the rest of this year.

Garden Pro, a $4 iOS app, is a reference app that can help you plan and manage your garden. Its main interface is an exhaustive list of flowers, herbs and vegetables, giving for each the common name, the botanical name and icons that indicate when the plant blooms and what type of water and light conditions it prefers.

Tapping on a plant takes you to a page with more information, including what type of soil it prefers and some basic care instructions. You can add the plant to a list of your preferred plants, which is a separate section of the app. In this section, you can program the app to remind you to do things like water — a reminder will pop up when a particular plant is due for a drink.

A To Do section in the app can log events like fertilizing your garden or buying compost. A Journal section lets you enter text and photo notes as your garden grows. It’s a great app for more experienced gardeners, and even beginners can use it as a learning resource. But some menu designs are confusing, such as having to go to the separate Plants menu to add a new species to your list, instead of being able to do this in the main plant database.

Landscaper’s Companion, $5 iOS and Android app, is slightly more professional in terms of detailed data, and a bit better organized. The plant database is arranged in classes like annuals, grasses, herbs and so on. Each plant’s entry includes a short description, typical size, cultivation advice and pictures. But this app is more useful for experienced gardeners, and to add your own data and photos will cost an additional $7 via an in-app purchase. Its database can also be patchy, so you may not find the exact data you need.

If you’re new to gardening and have an Android device, you may like the Beginners Gardening Guide. It’s a free text-based app, jammed with useful information and imagery. The app starts with advice about good soil management, then talks about composting. It also offers more detailed information about garden design and on growing vegetable or flower gardens. Its design is basic, and finding data like “plant nutrients” hidden with a lot of other functions under the “more” icon is a little surprising. But it’s pleasant to read, and you could consider it a digital reference book.

Garden Tracker, a $2 iPhone app, will be useful if you already have some idea about what plants you want in your garden. A square grid represents your garden plot. Tapping part of the grid and then selecting a plant from a long scrolling list tells the app what crop or flower you want to plant in that part of your garden. The list has both a description of the plant and a picture.

If you can’t find the plant you want, you can add an entry with details like the kind of conditions the plant prefers, and even a photo. When you’ve built your garden “map,” perhaps symbolically representing your own garden, you can tell the app when you have watered, fed or harvested a particular plant.

Gardens are a place where you’ll also find bugs. And if you want to know whether a particular insect you’ve spotted is good or bad for plants, there’s the app Bugs In The Garden, $1 on Android, which has photos of some common insects. The $1 iOS and Android app Garden Bugs is similar, with a more comprehensive list of insects and also lists of plant diseases, including advice on treatment.

Quick Call

Reuters has released a free iOS news app that delivers the latest news reports and extras like photos, video and background commentary. It’s free on iTunes for iPhones and iPads.