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Hi,

I am a landscape designer looking for advice on landscape design software packages.

I have always used pen and trace for my plans but have become increasingly frustrated with the results I am getting from this medium.  I take hours, days or weeks to produce something I am happy with, only for it to be reduced by the printing process ( albeit by a very reputable company with top of the range equipment) to a greyed-out amateur-looking drawing with which I am always bitterly disappointed after all my hard work.

I enrolled at the local horticultural college and spent a semester using CAD.

It was a revelation for me!

Although it took a little getting to grips with, I loved the way I could experiment and change things all at the click of a button without the fear of making mistakes. I could also fiddle with the end result until it was exactly what I wanted without having to rip it all up and start all over again. 

A simple email to the printers and out came the professional result I had been looking for. 

However, my college days are over, my student card and access to free CAD have expired and I am looking for a package to call my own !

I would be most grateful to anyone who could provide me with solid advice - hopefully based on experience. Please don't try to persuade me to go back to drawing - I know many people produce marvellous results - I don't!

Now I have more work, I am hankering after the ease with which I could produce something I was proud of in a fraction of the time it takes me to draw.

The package we used at college was Vectorworks. Although I would have loved to continue to use this, sadly this is not an option as it will not run on my computer (four professionals have tried their best to find out why). It is also not really an option for a small one-man company as it retails at well over £1,000 (plus I would need a new computer - ouch!)

So, I am looking for something which gives me results akin to what I was getting from a  fairly basic use of Vectorworks, at around half the cost (ish) and without needing to buy a new computer since I am told there is absolutely nothing wrong with my current one and I have just spent on increasing the RAM to run such a package.

Most of my designs are small-scale domestic gardens - I have not yet found anyone who wanted 3D ! so I would be happy with professional-looking  2D scale drawings (layout plans, construction drawings etc.).

Alot of my work is planting design - that is my speciality - so I would really like a package with an integrated planting design side ( not too bothered about the plant database as, particularly with VW this was American and not v applicable here) rather than having to use a separate one.

If the package came with the opportunity to trial for a limited period, so I can check it is right for me and my computer, so much the better.

I apologise for a rather long-winded first post but wanted to set out my stall so I'm not wasting anyone's time .

My thanks in advance.

P J Stupples