AutoCAD for Landscape Design: Site Plans and Planting Schedules

Landscape architects and garden designers rely on precise, professional drawings to communicate their ideas to clients, contractors, and planning authorities. AutoCAD is one of the most widely used tools for producing these drawings — not because it is purpose-built for landscape design (specialist tools like Vectorworks Landmark and Land F/X exist for that), but because it is a universal drafting platform that every contractor and planning department can open and work with, and its precision and layer control make it entirely adequate for most landscape design workflows.

This guide covers how to set up a landscape design project in AutoCAD, create accurate site plans, build and organise planting symbol libraries, produce planting schedules, and set up drawing sheets for client presentation and contractor use.

The tools described here are available in AutoCAD 2023–2026 (£39.99 from GetRenewedTech) and in AutoCAD LT (the 2D-only version) — landscape design rarely requires 3D solid modelling, so LT is often sufficient for this discipline.

Setting Up the Landscape Drawing Template

A well-configured template saves time on every project. Landscape design drawings typically use the following setup:

Drawing Units

Landscape plans are usually drawn in millimetres at 1:1 scale, with the paper layout scaled for output. Use the UNITS command to set:

• Length Type: Decimal
• Length Precision: 0 (whole millimetres are sufficient for most landscape work)
• Angle Type: Decimal Degrees
• Angle Precision: 0.00
• Insertion Scale: Millimetres

Layers for Landscape Design

A logical layer structure keeps complex drawings manageable. A suggested layer scheme for landscape plans:

Drawing the Site Plan

Setting Up from a Survey

Most professional landscape projects begin with a survey — either a measured survey you have conducted, a digital survey file (DWG) from a surveyor, or an OS (Ordnance Survey) map used as a reference. When working from an existing DWG:

1. Attach the survey as an external reference (XREF) rather than inserting it directly. This keeps your design separate from the base information and makes file management cleaner.
2. Lock the XREF layer to prevent accidental edits.
3. Set your UCS to match North if the survey has a north arrow — this makes it easy to communicate orientation.

When tracing from an OS map or raster image, use the IMAGEATTACH command to attach the image, then use SCALE to resize it to real-world dimensions. Use a known distance (a road width, building dimension, or scalebar) to calibrate the image to the correct size.

Drawing Hard Landscaping Elements

Hard landscaping — paths, patios, walls, driveways, steps — is typically drawn with PLINE (polylines) to create closed shapes that can be hatched to indicate material. Conventions vary by practice, but common hatch patterns for landscape materials include:

• AR-BRSTD: Block paving (stretcher bond)
• SQUARE: Regular paving slabs
• GRAVEL (custom): Dot pattern for gravel surfaces
• GRASS (custom): Grass texture for lawn areas
• AR-CONC: Concrete surfaces

Create hatch patterns by drawing the closed polyline shape, then using the HATCH command. For custom landscape materials, consider creating custom hatch pattern files (.pat) or sourcing them from online landscape CAD resources.

Drawing Planting Beds

Planting beds are typically drawn as closed PLINE shapes with a smooth curve (using PEDIT to fit curves through the vertices, or SPLINE for more organic shapes). The bed boundary defines the planted area; plant symbols are placed within or overlapping the boundary to show the planting arrangement.

For complex planting beds with many plants, consider using the boundary as a separate layer and hatch the interior lightly to distinguish it visually from hard surfaces.

Creating and Using Plant Symbol Blocks

Plant symbols are schematic representations of plants as seen from above (plan view). Rather than attempting botanical accuracy, they communicate plant type, scale, and spacing to contractors. A small library of reusable blocks covers most design needs.

Standard Plant Symbol Types

• Trees: Represented by a circle with a trunk dot and canopy perimeter at the mature spread diameter. Often include a simple radial line pattern to suggest foliage texture.
• Large shrubs: Irregular closed pline shapes, slightly smaller than tree symbols, with a lobe pattern.
• Small shrubs/perennials: Simple circles or rounded lobed shapes, indicating planting centres.
• Ground cover: Typically shown as an infill hatch within the bed boundary rather than individual symbols, as individual plants are planted too closely for individual notation at plan scale.
• Hedges: A series of overlapping circle symbols along the hedge line, or a solid rectangle/pline at hedge width.

Creating a Tree Symbol Block

1. Draw the symbol at actual scale — if the mature canopy spread is 4000mm, draw the circle with a 2000mm radius.
2. Add detail: a small filled circle (DONUT) at centre for the trunk, and a few radial line segments or curved hatching to suggest foliage.
3. Type BLOCK, name the block (e.g., TREE-DECIDUOUS-4M), set the insertion point at the trunk/centre, select all geometry, and click OK.
4. Store the block definition in your template drawing so it is available in all new projects.

Naming conventions matter in landscape design because plant schedules (discussed below) often pull block names and attribute data from the drawing. Use consistent, meaningful names: TREE-DECIDUOUS-4M, SHRUB-MEDIUM-0.6M, PERENNIAL-SMALL-0.3M.

Adding Attributes to Plant Blocks

Attributes are text fields attached to a block that can store data (plant name, code, size, quantity) and can be extracted to create schedules. Adding attributes to plant blocks is one of the most valuable time-savers in landscape CAD.

1. Before creating the block, use ATTDEF to create attribute definitions within the symbol.
2. Create attributes for: PLANT-CODE (a short code like BU-SE for Buddleja ‘Se Summer’™), BOTANICAL-NAME, COMMON-NAME, SIZE-AT-PLANTING, SPACING.
3. Set the Tag (short reference), Prompt (what the user is asked when inserting the block), and Default Value.
4. Include these attribute definitions when creating the block.

When the block is inserted, AutoCAD prompts for the attribute values. You can also edit them afterwards with the EATTEDIT command (Enhanced Attribute Edit).

Producing the Planting Schedule

A planting schedule (planting list or plant schedule) is a table listing every plant species in the drawing with its code, botanical name, common name, size at planting, quantity, and sometimes notes on maintenance or sourcing. AutoCAD can generate this automatically from attributed blocks using the Data Extraction wizard.

Data Extraction for Planting Schedules

1. Go to the Insert ribbon tab and click Extract Data, or type DATAEXTRACTION.
2. Choose to create a new data extraction (.dxe file) and save it with your project.
3. Select Drawings/Sheet Set and add the current drawing (or entire project folder if the design spans multiple files).
4. In the Select Objects step, choose to filter by block name. Select only your planting blocks (TREE-*, SHRUB-*, PERENNIAL-*, etc.).
5. In the Select Properties step, choose the attribute fields you want to extract: PLANT-CODE, BOTANICAL-NAME, COMMON-NAME, SIZE-AT-PLANTING, SPACING, and COUNT (the number of insertions of each block).
6. In the Refine Data step, organise and rename the columns as needed.
7. In the Choose Output step, select Insert data extraction table into drawing to create a live table inside AutoCAD, or Output data to external file to create an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file.

The resulting table lists each unique plant code with the total count, botanical name, and other attributes. This is your planting schedule, ready to include on the drawing sheet or export for the client’s nurseryman.

Keeping the Schedule Updated

When you use Data Extraction to insert a table into AutoCAD, it creates a linked table. When you add or remove plant symbols from the drawing, right-click the table and select Update Table Data Link to refresh the quantities automatically. This is far preferable to maintaining a manually typed schedule that inevitably falls out of sync with the drawing.

North Arrow, Scale Bar, and Sheet Setup

Professional landscape drawings include a north arrow and scale bar as standard. Create these as blocks in your template:

• North arrow: A simple arrow pointing north with an N annotation. Create as a block with a rotation parameter so you can orient it to drawing north on each project.
• Scale bar: A horizontal bar with divisions labelled in metres. Create bars for your common drawing scales (1:100, 1:200, 1:500). At 1:200, 1mm on the drawing = 200mm in reality; a 50mm scale bar represents 10,000mm (10m).

For sheet layout, use the Layout (Paper Space) environment:

1. Click the Layout tab at the bottom of the screen.
2. Right-click → Page Setup to set paper size, printer, and scale.
3. Create viewports with the VPORTS command to display your model space drawing at the appropriate scale.
4. Double-click inside the viewport to enter the viewport and use ZOOM to set the view scale (e.g., type 1/200XP for 1:200 scale).
5. Lock the viewport scale: right-click the viewport border → Display Locked → Yes. This prevents accidental zoom changes.

Softscape Detailing: Sections and Details

Beyond the plan view, landscape drawings often include sections, elevations, and construction details. AutoCAD handles these well in a multi-layout file:

• Cross-sections: Draw at a larger scale (1:20 or 1:10) to show planting bed construction — subgrade, drainage layer, soil depth, edging details.
• Tree pit details: Standard tree pit details showing rootball size, staking method, guard rails, and backfill specification.
• Paving details: Construction details for paths and patios, showing sub-base, bed, and paving layer thicknesses.

Use a separate layout tab (or a separate drawing file XREFed into a sheet file) for each detail sheet. Consistent linetype, line weight, and annotation style across all sheets gives the drawing package a professional appearance.

Delivering the Drawing Package

Most clients and contractors receive drawings as PDFs. Use AutoCAD’s built-in PDF plotter:

1. Open Print/Plot (Ctrl + P).
2. Select DWG To PDF.pc3 as the printer.
3. Set paper size, plot area (Layout), and ensure Plot with plot styles is ticked.
4. Choose a plot style table (CTB or STB file) that maps your drawing colours to appropriate line weights for print.

For multi-sheet packages, use the Sheet Set Manager (SSM) to publish all layouts at once: File → Publish, then configure for PDF output.

Conclusion

AutoCAD provides everything a landscape designer needs for professional drawing production: precise site plan geometry, reusable plant symbol libraries, automated planting schedules via data extraction, and clean sheet layout tools. The investment in a well-structured template — good layers, attributed block libraries, a planting schedule extraction setup — pays dividends across every project that follows.

While landscape-specific add-ons like Land F/X or VDOC Landscape can further automate workflows, standard AutoCAD alone is sufficient for the majority of residential and small commercial landscape projects. Get AutoCAD 2023–2026 from GetRenewedTech for £39.99.