A good garden planner app should do more than draw rectangles. It should know your growing zone, help you choose plants that will thrive, remember where everything is planted, and tell you what needs doing as the weather changes. That end-to-end loop is exactly what Sow is: garden designer, plant library, yard map, and care assistant in one free app.
Instead of juggling a design tool, a plant encyclopedia, a paper map and a weather app, Sow keeps your whole garden — every bed, plant and task — in one place that syncs between your phone and usesow.com.
Plan with plants, not just shapes
Sow's planning starts from its 10,000+ outdoor plant library — perennials, shrubs, trees, grasses, vegetables and more, each with zone range, sun needs, mature size and care profile. Build collections per area (Front Yard, Shade Bed, Veggie Plot), filter by traits like Native, Butterfly Host or Pet Safe, and see an estimated value for each collection as you plan your budget.
Design and map every space
Visual planning happens two ways in Sow: photo-based design for how a bed will look, and satellite yard mapping for where everything lives. Draw beds and paths over a birds-eye view of your property, drop plants where they are planted, and you've got a living site plan you can update from the yard.
A plan that adapts to the weather
Plans fail when the weather changes and the plan doesn't. Sow tracks your local forecast, rainfall history, drought conditions and frost dates, converting them into concrete tasks: water these beds, stake tall plants before Thursday's storm, hold off planting until after the last frost. Your garden plan stays a live system, not a spring-time document.
