Pollinator Pathmaker

Pollinator Pathmaker treats garden design as an interspecies artwork. Feed its algorithm a plot, region, soil, light, and exposure; it selects from a regional plant palette and arranges a garden around many pollinators' needs across the seasons, then offers a digital tour and planting instructions.

What is Pollinator Pathmaker?

Most garden planners begin with what the owner wants to see. Pollinator Pathmaker hands the brief to bees, beetles, moths, butterflies, and other flower visitors. You describe the patch you have—its size, shape, soil, light, and exposure—then tune controls for plant variety, visual pattern, and the way pollinators move between flowers. The algorithm responds with a one-off planting design assembled from a regional palette. The result lives in two worlds. On screen, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg's painted plants become a garden you can inspect in 3D, revisit across seasons, and translate into a planting plan. In the ground, the design becomes one edition of a larger living artwork first commissioned by the Eden Project. The strangest and best idea here is that visual harmony for a person is not the finish line. Flower shapes, bloom times, feeding styles, and flight routes get more influence, which can produce exuberant combinations that a tidy-minded gardener might never choose unaided.

What you can do there

• Describe a garden's location and growing conditions
• Adjust pollinator-centered design controls
• Generate and explore a planting plan
• Download planting instructions

Why we picked it

This is a rare online generator whose output can leave the screen and start buzzing. Its rules turn an abstract question—what would it mean to design for another species?—into a garden plan, while the project is candid that the algorithm still contains human choices and is an artwork rather than a scientific verdict.

How to get the most from it

Start small and enter the growing conditions you actually have. Compare bold versus intricate patterns and paths versus patches, then inspect the plant list rather than judging only the 3D picture. Download the instructions if the design feels workable, but check every plant against local gardening guidance before buying or planting anything.

Good to know

The generator uses regional palettes, so availability depends on where your garden is located. Its creators combine published guidance with specialist and anecdotal knowledge and explicitly stop short of calling it a scientific experiment. The live builder was not rendered here, and the Google Arts & Culture wrapper cannot be embedded in Site Stumble.

Who made it, and when?

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is the credited creator or organization. The earliest supported launch date we found is November 2021.