29. AI Gardener

ChatGPT, Midjourney and Photoshop teamed up to help design my garden.

I asked three Artificial Intelligence bots to help design my garden, here are the results.

ChatGPT

I asked ChatGPT (a text based Artificial Intelligence search bot) what I should plant under my Katsura tree. Here is what is responded:

Planting under a Katsura tree in the Seattle area with multi-seasonal interest requires selecting plants that can thrive in the Pacific Northwest climate and complement the Katsura tree's characteristics. Here are some plant options that can work well:
1. **Ferns**:
- Sword Fern (Polystichum munitum): This native fern is well-suited to the Seattle area and can provide lush green foliage throughout the year.
2. **Heuchera**:
- Coral Bells (Heuchera spp.): These plants offer a range of foliage colors, including green, purple, and silver, and can add interest throughout the year.
3. **Bleeding Heart** (Dicentra spectabilis):
- This plant has unique, delicate, fern-like foliage and attractive heart-shaped flowers in the spring.
4. **Hostas**:
- Hosta spp.: These shade-loving perennials come in various sizes and leaf colors, providing interest with their foliage from spring through fall.
5. **Hellebores**:
- Lenten Rose (Helleborus spp.): Hellebores bloom in late winter or early spring and have attractive, evergreen foliage for the rest of the year.
6. **Japanese Forest Grass** (Hakonechloa macra):
- This ornamental grass provides a graceful, arching habit and turns beautiful shades of gold in the fall.
7. **Astilbe**:
- Astilbe spp.: These perennials have feathery plumes of flowers in various colors and can add color to your garden in late spring and early summer.
8. **Coral Bells** (Heuchera spp.):
- Known for their attractive foliage in various colors and charming bell-shaped flowers, coral bells can provide interest in different seasons.
9. **Dwarf Rhododendrons**:
- Choose small, evergreen rhododendron varieties that bloom in late spring for added color.
10. **Dwarf Japanese Maples**:
- These small trees offer beautiful foliage colors and can enhance the overall appearance of your garden.
11. **Perennial Ground Covers**:
- Consider low-growing plants like Lamium, Epimedium, or Ajuga as ground covers to add textural contrast and cover the soil.
Remember to consider the specific light and moisture conditions in the area around your Katsura tree and choose plants that are appropriate for those conditions. Also, keep in mind that a diverse selection of plants will provide multi-seasonal interest and make your garden more visually appealing. Additionally, it's essential to properly space and mulch the plants to conserve moisture and control weeds while allowing them to thrive alongside the Katsura tree.

Now with these instructions, I was ready to turn to my next bot.

Midjourney

My next helper was Midjourney (a text to image Artifical Intelligence bot). I wrote a description of what ChatGPT recommended I plant under my katsura tree, and let Midjourney take it from there.

Here was my prompt:

Photo realistic garden rendering, big katsura tree in Seattle with ferns, heuchera, bleeding heart, hostas, hellebores, japanese forest grass, astilbe, coral bells, dwarf rhododendrons and dwarf japanese maple

Here was the response:

I then realized that the AI might not know what a Katsura tree looks like, so I tried a simpler prompt:

high quality photograph, katsura tree in puget sound surrounded by grass

Here was the response:

Well, that was a bit better, but too big!

Then I modified the description to try to get this tree into my yard, surround it with a garden bed. I also edited the recommendations from ChatGPT to just stick with ferns, hellebores and hostas.

Here is my prompt:

high quality photograph, young katsura tree with ferns, hellebores, and hostas at the ground, located in a large yard in the pacific north west in the spring time

The response:

Oops, looks like we lost the tree!

Midjourney - Take 2

This bot was not really working for me, so I tried a different tactic: the blend. I asked Midjourney to blend the best renders that it had give me so far.

Here are the results:

I upscaled that bottom right image and thought, it was time to move on to my next AI.

Photoshop

Then I hopped into Photoshop. This classic graphic editor has also introduced Artificial Intelligence: a text to image command. Using their generative fill command, I wanted to add more ground cover in the garden bed.

Add ferns, hostas, and green plants to the bottom of the tree.

Here was the result:

How did it do?

While AI did not wow me with it’s final design results, I was blown away by the speed and quality of the images. It took 35 minutes from my original ChatGPT prompt to get to the final image. Incredible.