The main Encyclopedia page lets you select the Plant Type, Watering Needs, Lighting Preference, Soil Preference, Zone, Color (for flower, leaf, autumn leaf, and fruit), Height and Blooming Season.

The Plant Care Calendar page lets you select the Complexity of Care required, Speed of Growth (for both height and spread), Life Expectancy and Usage.

The World Map page lets you select the region of the world where the plants originate. For example, if you wanted to find plants for an Asian-themed water garden, you would click on the Asian region of the map to exclude any plants that aren’t indigenous to Asia.

The Notebook page lets you filter plants by notes that you’ve entered previously on this page. For example, you could enter the note “Front Yard” for all plants that you want to use in your front yard. When you are ready to lay out the front yard of your landscape plan you can go back to the Plant Filter and limit your plant list to only the plants you’ve pre-chosen for your front yard.

The Picture page lets you limit your plant list by the part of the plant shown in its photo (leaf, bark, fruit, etc.).

The filter option available on the Diseases page is different, because it affects the disease list, not the plant list. To use this filter, click on the image that represents the part of the plant affected or type of infestation, then select the Encyclopedia tab on the left side of the window to switch to the regular Diseases page. For example, if you are considering planting lilies or daffodils in your garden, and want to know what type of diseases these bulb plants may encounter, click the Bulb image on the Diseases page (in Plant Filter mode), then go into Encyclopedia mode and select the Diseases page.

When you are in Plant Filter mode, each icon and scale represents a specific plant criterion. As soon as you click on an icon or move a slider, filtering begins. To deselect an icon, click on it again.

Note: If some of the icons disappear, it is because no such plant is selectable within the current criteria. For example, if you select minimal water, the climber plant type icon will disappear because there are no climbing plants that will accept minimal watering.

If you select more than one icon within a single group, then all plants with any of the checked properties will be selected. For example, selecting maximum light and medium light will exclude all plants that flourish under minimal light (shade) conditions. If icons/sliders of more than one type are checked/moved, then plants that satisfy all the chosen criteria will be selected. For example, if you click on the deciduous tree icon in the Type box, the full sun icon in the Lighting Preference box, and the white square on the Color box, then only hardwood trees that flourish in full sunlight, require minimal watering, and produce white flowers will be selected.