Planting Recipes

A planting recipe is a reusable plant palette. It brings species and selected cultivars together before you place anything on a map, and the same recipe can be connected to more than one project.

Use a recipe to record a coherent combination such as a sunny edible hedge, pond-edge planting, orchard understory, windbreak, or multi-layer guild. A recipe is not a site assessment or planting guarantee: check every choice against the intended climate, soil, exposure, available space, regulations, and reliable local knowledge.

Understand the two recipe types

AgroForest Designer stores standard planting recipes and pollinator recipes in the same recipe library, but they serve different workflows.

	Standard planting recipe	Pollinator recipe
Main purpose	Prepare a reusable palette for projects and spatial plans	Compare flowering continuity and value for selected pollinator groups
Records used	Plants from the main plant database and your own cultivars	Flowering records from the Pollinator Plant Database
Where it is built	All recipes or Search Plants	Pollinator plants or the Flowering arc
Project connection	Can be connected to projects	Cannot be connected to projects
Digital Planting Plan	Available as a plant source	Not available as a plant source
Main recipe tools	Details, Shopping List, and Harvest Calendar	Details and Recipe flower comparison

Both types appear under Plants and recipes > All recipes, and both count toward the same recipe allowance. A pollinator card is labelled Pollinator recipe and reports flowers; a standard card is labelled Planting recipe and reports plants and cultivars.

Use the Pollinator Plant Database and Flowering Arc guides for the pollinator-specific workflow. When you want to turn a pollinator shortlist into a spatial design, find the corresponding species in the main plant database and add them to a standard planting recipe.

Check access and recipe capacity

Sign in before creating or changing a recipe. Open Plants and recipes > All recipes to see the recipes owned by your account. The page heading is Planting Recipes and its main actions are Explore public recipes for recipes shared by other users and New recipe for an empty standard planting recipe.

Your current account determines how many standard and pollinator recipes you can own. Use the allowance displayed under Subscription as the current source of truth; this guide does not repeat a fixed number. At the limit, the All recipes page replaces New recipe with Recipe limit reached. Every recipe or saved copy still counts even if another workflow continues to show a creation or copy action, so review the displayed usage before adding one elsewhere.

If a plan change leaves the account above its current allowance, the application keeps the recipes but can place some of them in Frozen recipes on the library page. Treat that label as an allowance warning; availability can differ between screens. Suitable access restores the normal library state. Review relationships and exports before deleting a recipe merely to make capacity available. See Plans and Feature Access.

Create a standard planting recipe

Start with an empty recipe

1. Open Plants and recipes > All recipes.
2. Select New recipe.
3. Enter a clear name. The name is required and should describe the recipe's purpose rather than a single project.
4. Add an optional description covering the intended layer, conditions, function, or design idea.
5. Select Create recipe.
6. On the new recipe's Details page, select Add plants to begin filling it.

The first form saves only the name and description. It is normal for the recipe to be empty immediately after creation.

Start from a public recipe

Select Explore public recipes to search public recipes by recipe text, description, author, or tags. Open a result to review its contents before copying it.

When the owner permits copying, select Save a copy while signed in. If you are signed out, the page offers Create account to copy instead. The saved copy belongs to your account and uses one place in your recipe allowance.

Add and remove plants

Open a standard recipe and select Add plants. The application opens Search Plants with that recipe selected.

1. Search by common or scientific name, or use the available plant filters.
2. Open a record when you need its full description, source information, or properties.
3. Add suitable plants to the selected recipe.
4. Return to the recipe's Details page to review the complete combination.

Each plant card can show its layer, common and scientific names, age or life-cycle information, edible and medicinal ratings, functions, dimensions, growth rate, soil, pH, moisture, light, foliage, and USDA hardiness information where recorded. A blank or missing value means that the database does not currently provide that information; it is not evidence that the property is irrelevant.

Use the trash action on a plant card to remove that species from the recipe. This removes the species membership. Before doing so, check whether a selected cultivar or personalization associated with that plant still needs attention, and review reports, purchase lists, and projects that reuse the recipe.

Add and manage cultivars

A cultivar is a named variety of a parent plant. Use one when variety-specific dimensions, harvest details, habit, or other characteristics matter.

Cultivars are selected inside their parent plant's card on the recipe Details page. They are not an independent plant list:

1. Add the parent species to the recipe first.
2. Use Manage cultivars on its card to create, copy, or edit cultivars when needed.
3. Return to the recipe.
4. Select the checkbox beside each of your cultivars that belongs in the recipe.

Only cultivars in your own account are offered in these recipe controls. If a public cultivar is suitable, first copy it into your own collection and verify its data. Selecting or clearing a cultivar checkbox updates the recipe; there is no separate recipe-wide cultivar save button.

See Cultivars for creation, copying, editing, and deletion guidance.

Personalize plant properties

Select Personalize plant on a plant card when the values needed for this recipe differ from the general plant record. A personalized card offers Edit personalization on later visits.

Depending on the record, personalisation can cover names, layer, site preferences, functions, hardiness, edibility, medicinal value, colour, crown characteristics, harvest period, and dimensions at different ages. The page compares custom and original values and provides a reset action.

Personalisation has a specific scope:

• it changes the plant presentation within this recipe;
• it does not rewrite the shared plant database;
• it applies everywhere this same recipe is reused;
• it can influence recipe reports and later uses of the recipe; and
• it does not guarantee that already-saved plant markers in an existing plan are rewritten.

Record the source of important custom values in your own notes. Dimensions, yield, hardiness, and timing can vary by rootstock, management, climate, soil, and data source.

Personalized values are included when the original recipe is viewed through an active public recipe page. Do not put private client details, exact private-site observations, or confidential notes in fields that you intend to share.

Use the recipe tools

The navigation at the top of a standard recipe provides several views. Locked controls require the corresponding feature access; consult Plans and Feature Access instead of assuming that every recipe report is part of the same access level.

View	What it does	Important limitation
Details	Manages plants, cultivars, personalisation, and plant information	Database values still require site verification
Shopping List	Opens the Purchase list workspace for quantities, suppliers, references, notes, unit prices, and totals	It is a procurement aid, not an automatically verified quotation
Harvest Calendar	Compares recorded harvest windows for the complete recipe or by layer	Missing or broad periods reflect the available data and local timing can differ

A recipe is not a safety assessment. Always supplement plant data with authoritative checks for toxicity, allergies, livestock exposure, invasiveness, legal restrictions, infrastructure conflicts, and local ecological effects.

Prepare a purchase list

Open Shopping List to reach the Purchase list workspace. The first visit can create a default Main list. From there you can:

• filter or search items;
• enter quantities, suppliers, supplier references, notes, and unit prices;
• apply a supplier to several selected items;
• review line subtotals and the list total;
• print or export the list to Excel; and
• save, switch, duplicate, or delete named purchase-list versions.

Purchase-list versions are procurement scenarios, not versions of the recipe itself. For example, use separate list versions to compare nurseries or purchasing phases while leaving the plant combination unchanged.

See Procurement for the complete supplier-library, saved-price, bulk-assignment, version, printing, and spreadsheet workflow.

Review the harvest calendar

Open Harvest Calendar to compare the recorded half-month harvest windows. Switch between the complete recipe and layer views, then export the calendar to Excel when required. When a selected cultivar has its own harvest information, the calendar uses it instead of duplicating the parent species entry.

Treat the calendar as planning information. Weather, maturity, cultivar, microclimate, pruning, and management can shift the actual harvest period.

Connect a recipe to a project

Only standard planting recipes can be connected to projects.

1. Open Projects and select the target project.
2. Select Add Recipe in Quick Actions or in the project's Planting Recipes section.
3. Choose one of your available standard recipes.
4. Confirm with Add Recipe.
5. Return to the project and verify that the recipe card is present.

The project links to the existing recipe; it does not create a private project copy. Editing that recipe therefore changes the palette presented on future visits in every project that links to it. Create and maintain a separate recipe when a project needs a permanently different combination.

In the Digital Planting Plan, open Planting > Plants and choose a linked recipe. Removing a recipe from the project removes it from the available palette but does not delete the recipe and does not automatically remove plant markers already stored in a saved plan.

Share a standard recipe

A standard recipe can be shared for viewing and, when permitted, copying. Pollinator recipes use their own private recipe-comparison workflow and are not intended for this public recipe-sharing flow.

Create and describe the public page

Use Share on the recipe card or recipe detail page. Depending on the screen, you can provide a public title and description, add tags, set Allow copying, and create or update the share link. Tags help other users find the recipe under Explore public recipes.

Review the complete public page before distributing its URL. It can show:

• the recipe name, description, author, and tags;
• plants, selected cultivars, layers, and recorded properties;
• recipe-specific personalized plant values.

A shared recipe is inspiration, not a site-specific recommendation. Avoid descriptions that imply guaranteed yields, safety, legal suitability, or universal compatibility.

Understand a live share and a saved copy

An active share page reads the owner's current recipe. Later membership and personalisation changes can therefore become visible on the same link.

A copied recipe is different. Save a copy creates an independent recipe containing the plant and cultivar selection and stored recipe quantities. It does not copy the original owner's personalizations, projects, public tags and share settings, or purchase-list versions. Later edits do not synchronize between the two recipes.

Remove public access

Removing a recipe from public discovery and revoking an existing link are separate actions. Turning off Make Recipe Public removes public-library visibility, but an active direct link can continue to work.

To revoke the URL, open Sharing from the main navigation, select the recipes view, find the link, and select Deactivate. Treat every active URL as shareable access: anyone who receives it may forward it.

Edit or delete a recipe

Use Edit from a standard recipe card to change its name or description. There is no recipe version history. Before making a major change that you may need to reverse, create a separate recipe or otherwise record the current combination yourself. Do not confuse purchase-list versions with recipe history.

Deletion is permanent. Before selecting Delete, review where the recipe is used and export anything you need. Deleting a recipe removes its plant and cultivar memberships, recipe personalizations, public recipe links, and recipe purchase-list versions. It also removes the recipe connection from projects. Projects and their saved plans remain, and already-saved plan elements may remain, but the deleted recipe can no longer provide their palette or recipe reference.

Recommended workflow

1. State the recipe's function and expected site conditions in its name and description.
2. Add a short list of candidate species from Search Plants.
3. Review every plant's size, layer, functions, and site requirements.
4. Select exact cultivars only where the variety matters.
5. Personalize values only when you can explain and support the change.
6. Review the Harvest Calendar when available.
7. Connect the standard recipe to a project and test it in a spatial plan.
8. Recheck spacing, access, maintenance, toxicity, and local suitability at project scale.
9. Build a purchase list only after the design and quantities are sufficiently stable.
10. Review privacy and copying settings before sharing publicly.

Troubleshooting

Situation	What to check
New recipe is unavailable	Check recipe capacity under Subscription. Standard and pollinator recipes share the same allowance.
A recipe appears under Frozen recipes	The account is above its current allowance. Restore suitable access or carefully review unneeded work before deleting anything.
A pollinator recipe is missing from a project selector	This is expected. Create a standard planting recipe for projects and the Digital Planting Plan.
A cultivar is missing from the recipe card	Add the parent plant first and confirm that the cultivar belongs to your account. Copy a public cultivar before selecting it.
A recipe report shows a lock	Check the exact feature under Plans and Feature Access.
A harvest entry is missing	The species or selected cultivar may not have a recorded harvest period. Check the plant and cultivar records.
A linked recipe is not visible in the planner	Confirm that it is a standard recipe, that it is connected to the current project, and that it is selected under Planting > Plants.
Removing a recipe did not remove map plants	Project recipe removal changes the palette, not existing plan elements. Remove unwanted markers in the planner and save a new plan version.
A direct share URL still works after public listing was disabled	Open Sharing > Recipes and select Deactivate for that link.
A copied public recipe lacks personalized values or purchase-list versions	Copies intentionally include the plant/cultivar selection rather than the owner's complete working context.

Continue the workflow

Use Finding Plants to expand a standard recipe or Projects to connect the recipe to a site. Continue with the Digital Planting Plan when the boundary and palette are ready, then use Procurement to prepare sourcing scenarios.