About Urban gardener
A smarter way to garden where you actually live.
Every garden has its own little climate. A sunny backyard, a shaded balcony, and a rooftop bed can feel surprisingly different, even a few blocks apart.
Urban gardener helps you make sense of your particular spot: what is likely to thrive there, and when to get started.
Garden advice for your patch of earth
Forget generic advice for an entire city or ZIP code. The map is free to try, with no account needed.
Drop a pin and we’ll look at the conditions around that exact place: sunlight, climate, elevation, and the changing seasons. From there you get planting ideas tailored to your location, not the neighborhood average.
Save your garden if you want to keep coming back, and you can get weekly planting suggestions by email.
The goal is simple: grow more of what you love, in the space you actually have.
What you’ll get
Sign up when you want to keep a garden and get recommendations over time.
🌱 Free dashboard
Start with one garden, completely free. See how much sunlight your spot gets, look ahead to the coming season, and find plants that fit those conditions.
You’ll also get weather-based suggestions when the forecast changes, plus optional weekly planting recommendations by email. Sun hours use our fast skyline (horizon) model built from San Francisco LiDAR, with more places on the way.
Already have a plant in mind? Recommendations+ ($0.99/month) grades any plant against the same sun, climate, season, and weather used for your recommendations.
How it works
- Find your garden. Drop a pin exactly where you’re growing.
- We look at the conditions. Climate, elevation, sunlight, terrain, and the season around that pin. A nearby wall can throw shade, which is why the pin goes on your spot, not the block.
- Get recommendations. Plants that are likely to thrive there, and a sensible time to start them. Think of it as a knowledgeable gardening friend who knows where your garden is.
How we measure sunlight
Inside San Francisco we use city LiDAR, a detailed 3D scan of buildings, trees, and terrain. The map calculator and the free dashboard build a skyline (horizon) profile around your pin and count the hours the sun rises above it. It’s fast and accurate for most gardens.
LiDAR is only available in San Francisco today, with more places on the way. Elsewhere we still estimate your garden’s sun exposure assuming an open sky, then reduce those hours for typical local cloud cover from the ERA5 climate record. Plant recommendations everywhere use your location, climate, and weather; LiDAR just makes the sun hours more precise where nearby buildings and trees matter.
A little local knowledge goes a long way
No recommendation can predict everything. Soil, microclimates, pests, weather, and plain old gardening luck still matter.
Use Urban gardener as a helpful starting point, and always cross-check important decisions with local guidance.
Happy growing. 🌱