AR Perpetual Garden

See your yard transform into an AR springtime bloom of Appalachian wild flowers.

Use this application to visualize a wild flower garden in your yard, and instantly see your world as a more beautiful and wild place with the Woodland in Balance scenario. Based on scientific data visualization information and botanically correct 3D plant models this app is an educational tool, and teachers are encouraged to use it in lessons. Use at home or at school, and place different AR flowers on any flat surface, then plan a wild flower garden of your own. See and learn about the effects of deer over population in the Woodland out of Balance scenario and compare it to the Woodland in Balance scenario, to see the difference. Listen to the story to learn about the hidden causes and reasons. Use the “Plant Info” button to visit our website to see all the seasons in perpetual bloom on our 3D timeline and to search and learn more about wild flowers, identification, and gardening to bring natural history to life.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The museum is an active research institution with an environmental research center in Rector, Pennsylvania called Powdermill Nature Reserve. The AR Perpetual Garden App and The Virtual Garden Timeline website features flowers and plants that may be found in many of the gardens at Powdermill and other Appalachian areas in the US.

The AR Perpetual Garden App was developed in part, as an international collaboration between The Harrington Lab at the University of Central Florida, The Powdermill Nature Reserve at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the MultiMediaTechnology program of the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Undergraduate and graduate students were involved in the production of the app.

In order to have a good user experience, you must have an AR compatible device. For Android devices, you will also need to download and install Google AR Core, for Apple devices, you will need to set up an Apple account, download and install the most recent version of the app. For both, you will need to open/launch the app, and then you will need to allow the AR programs to find a flat surface -- the ground or the floor, that will be indicated by some graphical markers. Then use your finger to tap the screen to plant the flowers. Best to use in full light, or full to part sun.

ARCore requires Android 7.0 or later, running on a device that shipped with the Google Play Store. https://developers.google.com/ar/discover/supported-devices