In the Fall of 2013 Empower was initially approached by a representative of the National Gardening Association to become their mobile app development specialist and design an app that would help the average gardener create a successful, sustainable garden. After several years of plant image creation and app design, development and revision, Garden GreenPrint was released by a joint effort between Empower and Perennial Designs, LLC in the summer of 2016.
The premise of the app is simple.
Step 1
Provide a list of professionally designed gardens
Garden Carousel View
The app provides 6 templates to start with; some of which are free while others can be unlocked through In App Purchase.
Each garden’s overall design, the list of plants to use, how and when they should be planted and how often they should be watered are all compiled by expert horticulturists.
Thus, assuming the user followed the instructions, the garden should be a success. To help ensure this, the user’s current geolocation is used to determine which templates would appear in the list.
Step 2
Modify the garden design as desired
A garden template is a recommendation of the designer, and often includes substitute plants that can be swapped out based on availability and a gardener’s taste. This is made easy by the app’s intuitive drag and drop design.
Users are allowed to create multiple versions of their garden based on the original template, move the plants around, switch them out with alternates, remove ones that might not fit because of a tree, add simple features like a stone walkway or trellis and more.
The overall goal here is to let them play and explore what works best for them.
Step 3
Purchase the recommended plants from the local garden center
Plant List View
Once the garden design is completed, a gardener can visit their local garden center, show a specialist a list of the plants needed for their garden, and then purchase whatever they needed. A plant list is always easily accessible from each of the gardener’s designs.
Note that not all of the goals for this feature made it into the app. Future features may include a way to show a map of local plant vendors in the surrounding area, provide a way for a local vendor to advertise discounts for plants and features based on a current design, or even sponsor the creation and showcase of their own garden design(s) within Garden GreenPrint. Perhaps a future release will include one or more of these features? Got any ideas of your own? Contact us and let us know!
Step 4
Follow the instructions provided by the template to construct the garden
Garden GreenPrint View
Each template provides detailed instructions on how to plant and maintain their garden. The instructions vary, but the intention is to give an average user the best chance to succeed at gardening.
The image on the left showcases one garden’s final “green print”, an idea that stemmed from the concept of a blue print.
The future of Garden GreenPrint is uncertain. If you’re interested in getting involved or what to learn more about where things are at, please feel free to reach out. We’d love to hear from you!
