Whether you are a sim creator, a landscaper or just trying to create a beautiful backyard, we all want to create a view to remember. Our tool kits can never be too full.
I want to thank my wonderful friend Elo, the owner and creator of The Forgotten Gardens for her point of view as well. Together we bring you a list of items we find are: adding an edge, realism, whimsical and as much as possible (crossing finger) save some prims. For a 360 view.
Grass
We’re Closed – Grass Field Lush: Available only on the Marketplace la, this old timer shop created many landscaping and décor items. This grass is growing in every possible direction, it is thick and covers a big part of land with a beautiful realistic tone and is easy to mod.
Konoha -“Jest” Weeds: Relatively new, Konoha took the SL landscaping scene by storm with beautiful creations. The “Jest” Weeds. It comes in no less than 27 shapes for the patches of grass. To allow you to place them on uneven surfaces, or for different purposes like making a road grassy, random patches (that can go well on sandy desert ground for example) and the texture options with a click menu are endless. From dry brown patches to delicate white flowers and random options for more and more ways to mix and match.
Alirium – PuffyGrass: Sadly like We’re Closed Alirium is only available on the Marketplace. Any colour, texture for realism, fantasy and any season can be found in that lovely shop. PuffyGrass is my personal favourite for its beautiful colours and how it mingles with everything so beautifully.
Trees
HPMD – Garden Tree07: HPMD been around for ages. If you haven’t visited the shop inworld, I really recommend you will. It’s an adventure. It is heaven for landscapers looking for the whimsical side of things. Garden Tree07 is big, old, and holds a story to it with a thick trunk and roots wrapping on to rocks and earth. Beautiful!
ROIRO – Sakura tree 4 seasons: ROIRO is a lovely shop for décor mostly and not a landscaping shop by definition. But the Sakura tree 4 seasons is a personal favourite of mine for it’s colour options, the sweet leaves particles and guys it’s 3 prims! Each season is beautiful. For spring you can pick from 4 options of Sakura blossoms and 2 options of summer green. Beautiful.
Somber Designs – Mossy Tree: Swamp Building – Less known shop. Available on the Marketplace only this Quirky looking. Covered in moss with branches stretching everywhere. This tree adds a little edge to any design.
Flowers
8f8 – Make Believe Bush Box: One of the most diverse artists in Second Life, 8f8 for years made items we all love and cherish. Some of his most recent collections are dedicated to landscaping. I picked the Make Believe Bush Box. Dry, Green, Lavender and White all available in that folder. You can create a colourful garden or the most delicate looking lavender field. 8f8 is locates at the beautiful Black Kite. I recommend strolling at that beautiful work of art of a sim.
Heart – Wild Flowers – Quenn Ann’s Lace: Heart is a house name when it comes to landscaping. Their flowers always come in nice big folders offering many different colours (depending on the flower of course) and most importantly in singles and patches. Queen Ann’s Lace is a flower that grows in many parts around the world. We see it in parks, sides of the road and for me usually with a black beetle catching some sun on it. I can add a touch of realism, break the colour and make the view more interesting.
Yūgen – Kukka: I met this brand long ago for its whimsical trees. Available on the MarketPlace this little shop is so unique and sweet. The variety of this shop has as mentioned trees and also decor and many flowers. You can scatter them around your grassy areas for a splash of colour. In the folder there are 9 different colour options as well as 3 mix options.
I could go on forever in this article. There is so much more to cover. Paths, waterfalls, fences, walls and so on. But I think these three are the base for what a good landscape is.
There is never right or wrong in landscaping. One has a wish for hyper realism, another for a fantasy surrealism approach. One for a desert. One for a lush green. I’m sure more shopping lists are on their way.
I will add one final thing: If I mentioned the trees in one store, it doesn’t mean they don’t have beautiful grass for you etc. I recommend with all my heart for you to explore and check out these beautiful artistic designers and creators.
Happy Shopping