Computer Active
5 Star 'BUY IT' review. 2006
Complete Gardens offers an excellent mix of quality and attention to detail, designed specifically for gardens in the UK. While it is more expensive than its rivals, this software delivers genuine value for gardeners of all levels.
At the core of its operation is the plant finder. Searching through the 3,000-odd plants can be done in a number of ways, including by name, leaf type, soil type, life cycle and colour. Search criteria can be customised on the left of the screen, with matching results displayed on the right.
It is clear that plenty of care has gone into the descriptions of each plant, and the needs of gardeners in the UK is borne in mind throughout. Each plant description is accompanied by practical advice on planting and pruning, and the high-quality photographs help to illustrate seasonal change.
The program can be used on either a PC or Mac, and is run directly from the CD, so no hard disk space is required.
Complete Gardens has everything for garden enthusiasts, whatever their level, and is of particular value because of its UK focus.
"Each plant description is accompanied by practical advice on planting and pruning, and the high-quality photographs help to illustrate seasonal change."
THE SUNDAY TIMES
Complete Gardens is a home grown product
David Hewson's insider view
You have to give the people behind Complete Gardens credit. They know their stuff, not least when it comes to red hot pokers. How many types are thriving in your garden? Explore this CD-ROM & you could find no fewer that 12, each with detailed description, a lovely photograph and comprehensive growing advice.
Many gardening discs available over here are imported American monstrosities that assume we all have to guard against armadillos and raccoons. Complete Gardens is a home grown product that acts as an all-singing all-dancing guide to more than 2,500 shrubs, flowers and vegetables suited to the British climate.
A formidable plant encyclopaedia, this CD-ROM has been compiled with astonishing care. Each variety is minutely described, with advice on soil, position and possible insect & disease problems. If you have a specific look in mind but are unsure how to achieve it, you work your way backwards by searching for example, for something large, pink in a shady spot in September.
There is also generic guides to horticultural styles, such as cottage gardens, and interactive calendar that can tell you when & hope to prune.
This is a handy electronic tool for the green-fingered, or anyone who wants a red hot poke that's different from the neighbours'.
"Complete Gardens is a home grown product that acts as an all-singing all-dancing guide to more than 2,500 shrubs, flowers and vegetables suited to the British climate."
Computer Buyer 'Best Buy'
Top 6 Star rating - December 2005
Complete Gardens is the best gardening program we've tested.
If you have a garden, you need a copy of this program. It takes out all the guesswork out of buying and caring for your plants and shrubs.
Load up Complete Gardens, tap a few keys, and you'll be presented with a page telling you exactly how to prune your plant. Plain and simple. And that's what Complete Gardens is - a plain and simple guide to growing and developing your garden. The program helps you in several ways. Firstly, if you've got a brown square of earth in desperate need of brightening up, it will help you pick the plants that are most likely to flourish. Here the program uses a clever system of sliders that you move from left to right to describe the nature of the garden. Is its soil wet or dry, acid or alkaline? Shaded or in full bright sun? How tall should the plant grow? Complete Gardens takes these inputs, and produces a list of shrubs and flowers which should fit the bill and also flourish in your garden.
Click on any plant you fancy and you're whisked to the program's real strength - its huge plant database. Each of the 3,000 plants detailed in the program are described in the most useful, clear and succinct way - there's no Internet-style information overload here. Everything you need to know about a plant is written to fit into a page or two.
The program also has the most beautiful photographs of the plant being discussed. In total there are over 7,500 pictures and the ones we looked at were fantastic.
We also liked the way the program details plant names. It doesn't just tell you the plant names English: and Greek or Latin. It also explains that the posh ones mean. For example 'rhododendron' comes from the Greek 'rhodos' meaning rose and 'dendron' meaning tree. Along with these details you'll also find succinct information about how to care for your chosen plant.
The program tells you how often a plant likes to be watered and fed, which blights and pests are likely to attack it and what you should do if they visit.
All this adds up to making Complete Gardens the best gardening program we've tested. if you're in the market for a program of this type, you really should buy it.
"The program also has the most beautiful photographs of the plant being discussed. In total there are over 7,500 pictures and the ones we looked at were fantastic."