Garden Software

 

 


Sophisticated PC Gardening Software for Amateur Gardeners, Head Gardeners, Master Gardeners
, Plant Collectors, Horticulturists, Landscapers, Nurseries, Garden Centres, Hybridizers

 

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Website last updated 4th October 2024

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IDEAS GENIE -WHAT DOES IT DO?
 

We’ve adopted this phrase after five days demonstrating the software at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in 2003. By FAR the most frequently asked question when a visitor stopped at our booth. What does it do?
I still have trouble narrowing it down to a few sentences, but here goes!

 

Note: The following topics are ALL on this page

What does it do - Summary of Features
What does it do for Amateur Gardeners
What does it do for Gardening Beginners
What does it do for Garden Designers and Landscapers
What does it do for Garden Centres
What does it do for Nurseries
What does it do for Hybridisers
What does it do for Horticulturists
What does it do for Public Speakers

 

 

What does it do - Summary of Features

Fun:
Photo Slide shows
Swap databases with Gardeners and Forum Friends

Input:
Garden areas.
Plant Names.
Specimen details.
Internet and Disk Photos
Link photos to plants and garden areas.
Set co-ordinates for (lassoo) Plants in Photos.
Photo sets.

Data:
Full Botanical names and/or Common Names
Plant Divisions
Plant Properties
Plant Care
Pests and Diseases
Inherited Genus and Species data.
Link to WORD, HTML, PDF documents.
JPG,GIF program and browser display. 
Book, Magazine and WEB articles.
Browse SWAP databases .
Access photos on Disc, CD or DVD.
999999 Plants capacity

Internet-
Capture Internet Photos.
Hyperlink to Web pages.
Hyperlink to Internet Photos.
Web Address Organiser.

 

 

What does it do - Summary of Features

Fun:

Photo Slide shows
Swap databases with Gardeners and Forum Friends.

Input:
Garden areas.
Plant Names.
Specimen details.
Internet and Disk Photos
Link photos to plants and garden areas.
Set co-ordinates for (lassoo) Plants in Photos.
Photo sets.

Data:
Full Botanical names and/or Common Names
Plant Divisions
Plant Properties
Plant Care
Pests and Diseases
Inherited Genus and Species data.
Link to WORD, HTML, PDF documents.
JPG,GIF program and browser display. 
Book, Magazine and WEB articles.
Browse SWAP databases .
Access photos on Disc, CD or DVD.
999999 Plants capacity.

Internet-
Capture Internet Photos.
Hyperlink to Web pages.
Hyperlink to Internet Photos.
Web Address Organiser.
 

 

What it Does - For amateur gardeners
Data:
The Ideas Genie software allows you to recreate your garden on your computer, YOUR garden, YOUR plants, YOUR photos.
You can create specimen records for plants which you have purchased or propagated.
You can record the Date Purchased, Supplier etc. etc. about your specimens.  
You can define your own Plant Property definitions, and store data, or link to web pages.
You can define your own Plant Care definitions, and store data, or link to web pages.
You can generate tasks, based on Plant Care details for YOUR plants.
You can create Spray Programs, or any similar multiple date task.
You can enter free text tasks, and shuffle these into priority order.
You can create your Seed List, Plants to Buy wish list, etc.
You can create Plant and Seed Catalog records. (Impossible to describe in one line!)

Unlimited data:
Ideas Genie provides powerful features to allow you to explore, organise and archive the worlds greatest resource, the internet.

Photos:
You can link your Plant photos to individual plants.
You can link your Garden Photos to your Garden Areas.
You can “lassoo” plant images in Garden Photos and link the co-ordinates to a plant name.

Output:
Produce a “My Garden” document summarising notes about your garden areas and the plants used in each area.
Print plant “Fact Sheet” documents, with a Photo (optional) of the plant.
Print Plant Labels for use on Seed Trays and Pots.
Print tasks.
Generate and print lists of plants which meet any combination of Plant Properties. The Ideas Genie query program is incredible! 

Sharing with you:
Gardeners love looking at photos of other peoples gardens. Ideas Genie allows you to view a number of OTHER databases of REAL gardens which we have made available on CD.
We refer to these as SWAP Library CD’s. The applications are endless!!
YOU can make YOUR SWAP CD, for sharing with your gardening friends, Plant Society members etc.

Are you the sort of person who enjoys scouring gardening books and magazines looking for names and photos of good plants and inspiration for your garden. You’ve probably got a completely unmanageable pile of sticky notes and maybe even a drawer full of Plant Labels.
Yes? You are a Plant Lover, and you will LOVE this software.

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What it does - For Gardening Beginners
Ideas Genie will help you decide on which plants to select for your garden.
AND... help you find a supplier for your selection. Choose from 5000 plants in our Master database.

With Ideas Genie YOU can...
Add new plants and photos to your personal database.
AND... save (and multi categorise)  web addresses of plants, photos, suppliers and resources
AND... use inbuilt hyperlinks to revisit web pages.

Ideas Genie offers progression. An easy Menu with programs for beginners.
In the SAME package, switch to FULL menu for a large range of sophisticated programs to satisy the requirements of Amateur Gardeners, Master Gardeners and Professionals.

The Ideas Genie community
Communicate with other users in our very active “Ideas for Gardens” forum.
Create and “Swap” databases of gardens with an international community of Ideas Genie users.
A number of REAL gardens with hundreds of plants on the Ideas Genie CD.
Run slide shows of your own, and other user gardens.

Type and learn the Botanical structure of plant names. Unique feature!
Click here for MORE details for Beginners

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What it Does - For Garden Designers and Landscapers
NEW: An opportunity for Garden designers
Software for Garden Designers.
The software allows you to:
Build a database of the plants you use.

Create a Garden for each your Clients with Garden Areas, Plants used and photos.

Extract lists of Plants for New Clients based on specific criteria e.g. Soil type, aspect, Plant size, Colour etc. The extraction list can be examined plant by plant to ensure other properties are consistent with the application (or budget). Plants can be deleted from extracted lists if unsuitable in any way. The final list can be printed or retained by adding to a “Garden Area” within the garden you are designing for your client. You can repeat the process to add more plants to the same garden area or create other garden areas to build up a complete project.

Use slide shows of previous projects when presenting your proposals to clients. Projectors can be used for presentations to groups, and the software can easily be run from a Laptop computer.
(See What it does for Public Speakers for more information on Slide Shows).

Retain Garden Details and costs of work done for Previous Clients

Record cost prices, supplier information, sell prices etc.
Display Project Totals, cost prices and sell prices.

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What it Does - For Garden Centres the software allows you to promote your plants. YOU know gardeners should be planting perennials in Spring, bulbs in Autumn, but they are barely visible in their pots. In your sales premises, Ideas Genie can be set up to display a repeating “Slide Show” of the plants you are currently promoting, the photos showing the plants in their full splendour. If a customer enquires, you can use the same or another computer to access the photo, find its name and allow the customer to read all your supporting notes. Research you do on the plant will go a long way to impress even the most discerning client.
And. of course, you’ll have easily accessible information on all your plants to satisfy customer queries in a very informative way, with the abiity to print a fact sheet, with a photo of the plant.

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What it Does - For Nurseries, the software allows you to make up a Catalogue of your plants for issue to mail order Customers.

NEW: We have a special offer here, for a limited period. For nurseries, we will take your plants list and make up an eCatalog CD for you.
This will have YOUR name only and will contain YOUR plants list only. If you have photos we will link them to the plants for you. We will supplement your photos with any relevant photos we may have.
The CD’s can be advertised on your web site or catalog and mailed to your customers either free or commercially.
The customer reviews your plant range, photos, plant information etc.
They can then visit your web site and use your on line Shopping Cart, ot compose a shopping list and print a fixed format order to your design, all within the software.

NEW: Would you like your list of plants added to our Plant Finder? This is a CD which we are compiling for issue with each purchased copy of Ideas Genie.
Users will be able to review the plants list and look for the source for interesting plants.
If you are listed as a supplier of that plant the Ideas Genie user may use a hyperlink to visit your web site, directly to the web page on YOUR on-line catalog.
Users can place orders using your shopping cart or generate an order form in Ideas Genie to order by mail.
Please get in touch for more information. Free inclusion for the first number of applicants.

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What it Does - For Hybridisers, the software allows you to create Specimens. You can assign a name for the Plant you are “designing” and add it to the database. You then create a specimen record for the new plant and associate it with a Batch reference. A data ‘blob’ is associated with both the Batch record and the Specimen Record. Use the Batch record to retain Hybridising details. Use the specimen record to record the seed sowing details. e.g. Number of seed sown, compost used, date sown etc.
When you make a “selection” from the seedlings you can split the selection from the parent specimen quantity.
The “selection” will inherit the “data blob” details of the Parent specimen so you dont have to retype, and the chain of events is recorded.
The details in the Batch “data blob” is shared by all specimens in the Batch.

And of course you can have an eCatalog on CD and have your plants entered in our Plant Finder. See details under “What it does for Nurseries”

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What it Does - For Horticulturists, the software allows botanically structured data storage.
Plant names entered by Family, Genus, Species, Sub-species and Cultivar.

The model fits in perfectly with the presentation found in such books as:
a) The RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants
b) Readers Digest New Encyclopedia of Garden Plants and Flowers.

Special features for correct entry and indexing of Hybrid Species (nothospecies)and Hybrid Genera.
e.g. x Fatshedera, Primula x pubescens

Large “data blobs” for storage of data e.g. Cultivation, Propagation, Pests & Diseases.
Special feature for definition and organisation of plants within Plant Divisions.
Special feature for tracing Plant Specimens in your collections. Assession number. etc.

The software offers unique flexibility in the type of data you wish to retain.
In drawing up a specification for the software it was apparent that a fixed solution would never suffice for the vast and diverse range of descriptions and classifications for Plant Culture, Plant Properties and Plant Care.
Ideas Genie offers you to configure the system with YOUR descriptions and classifications.
Examples of configurable Plant Culture topics are Sunlight requirements, Aspect, Hardiness Zones etc, plus any number you wish to add.
Examples of configurable Plant Properties are Height Bands, Colour Groups, Leaf Type, Flower Type, plus any number you wish to add.
Examples of Configurable Plant Care topics are Pruning, Mulching, Feeding, Spraying, Propagating etc, plus any number you wish to add.
A data “blob” is available for each Classification, at Genus level. 

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What it Does - For Public Speakers, the software offers two slide shows which can be easily configured for use in talks to Garden clubs and Plant Societies. Plants can be grouped in Photo Sets or in Talk Sets.
The software can be run from a laptop and can be used with a projector for presentation to groups.
Ideas Genie allows you to assign a title to each photo you link to a garden area or to a single plant. A data ‘blob’ is allocated to each photo. Can be used for things like date taken, where taken, photographer name, expedition date, and... much much more.
During a slide show you can pause at any point, go to previous photo (back to beginning if necessary) etc.
When paused you can point to a plant in a photo and its name appears. Alternatively you can click repetitively on a button and Ideas Genie will sequentially “lassoo” each plant in the photo and display its name.
You can also access the details of the currently selected Photo (described above), details about the currently selected Plant.
The advantage in this system is that the work is done once to describe the photo, once to describe the Plant, and the details can EASILY be reused in any number of presentations.

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Ideas Genie - Software for Plant Lovers .
BUY: Click here             Evaluation copy: Click Click here

 

 

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