The words ‘AI’ and ‘gardens’ don’t naturally seem to go together. Gardening is human, physical,
sensory – an act of care and patience, an interaction with the natural world that shouldn’t be rushed, automated or digitised.
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AI isn’t a gardener. It doesn’t feel the texture of soil between its fingers. It cannot experience ‘qualia’ – those ineffable sensory moments that define our human experience: the intoxicating perfume of a rose on a summer evening, the satisfying roughness of ancient oak bark beneath fingertips, the quality of light filtering through new beech leaves in spring.
AI may be able to analyse a garden, but it will never be able to love one
What it can do is help us gather information and insights, allowing us to work more sustainably. Already, AI is being used to identify climate resilient characteristics in plants, monitor climate change and reduce waste in agriculture.
Picture the technology that could help us monitor plant health or ensure our gardens receive precisely the water they need during increasing scarcity. As we face an insect Armageddon, these tools might track pollinators through our gardens, helping us to understand which planting combinations best support their lifecycles.
If AI can help us reduce this environmental impact while maintaining beauty and function, surely it is worth exploring.
The fear that technology could replace the gardener’s hand is understandable, but I don’t believe AI is here to replace us. I believe it can help us face the extraordinary challenges of our time, if used sensitively and responsibly.
The gardens of tomorrow might be more resilient not because they employ less human touch, but because that touch is better informed, much like how the internet revolutionised our access to knowledge, but with real intelligence and meaningful collaboration. Imagine a genuine dialogue between gardener and technology, each contributing their unique strengths: our intuition and creativity paired with AI’s ability to process vast amounts of environmental data.
Those of us who work with plants and landscapes know how our professions are often undervalued. Despite the extensive knowledge required, our work is frequently misunderstood as merely decorative. If AI could handle tedious record-keeping, data analysis and administrative tasks, might that not elevate our collective crafts? Technology could liberate us to concentrate on what truly matters: the creative vision that shapes space and the nurturing relationship with living things.
Part of our brief for The Avanade Intelligent Garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show was to create a genuinely useful AI tool. We wanted to explore whether AI could address major horticultural challenges such as water waste, soil depletion and biodiversity loss.
Gardening, for all its beauty, can be wasteful. Many gardens consume too much water and too many chemicals, and rely on unsustainable resources. If AI can help us reduce this environmental impact while maintaining beauty and function, surely it is worth exploring.
The gardens of tomorrow might be more resilient not because they employ less human touch, but because that touch is better informed,
Does AI belong in gardens? I believe the answer is nuanced. It will appear in our gardens whether we like it or not, just as smartphones, the internet and automobiles are now ubiquitous. Yes, the technology will inevitably be deployed for commercial gain, to sell items like garden products, plants, fertilisers and pesticides, but its true value lies elsewhere.
AI belongs in our gardens when it enhances sustainability, builds resilience and deepens our understanding of complex ecosystems. It serves us best when it helps conserve resources and frees us to focus on the creative, intuitive aspects of our craft – informing human judgement rather than replacing it.
It has no place when it disconnects us from the physical act of tending plants or prioritises efficiency and order above the natural complexities inherent in our gardens. AI doesn’t belong when it reduces decisions to algorithms without considering context, history and character.
The answer is not to reject AI outright, nor embrace it blindly. It is to integrate technology thoughtfully, ensuring that as it advances, we remain in control; gardening with intelligence, empathy and respect for the natural world. AI may be able to analyse a garden, but it will never be able to love one. That’s something only we, as human gardeners, can do.
- Tom Massey is a landscape and garden designer. Read more about The Avanade Intelligent Garden