Rules
Flower Garden Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal 36 cards face up into six flower beds of six cards each.
- The remaining 16 cards form the bouquet reserve.
- Every bouquet card is visible and available from the start.
- Foundations build upward by suit from ace to king.
- Only the top card of each flower bed is available.
- Flower beds build downward by rank, regardless of suit.
- Move only one card at a time; sequences do not move together.
- Empty flower beds accept any available card.
- There is no stock, waste pile, redeal, or reshuffle.
- Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.
How to play
How to play Flower Garden Solitaire
Flower Garden is an open foundation-building game. The table begins with six columns called flower beds and a visible reserve called the bouquet. Your job is to grow four suit foundations from ace to king while using the beds and bouquet to free blocked cards.
On each turn, choose one available card. Available means any card in the bouquet, or the top card of a flower bed. Move that card to a foundation if it is the next card of its suit, or move it to a flower bed if it is exactly one rank lower than the destination card. Suits do not matter in the flower beds, so a 9 of clubs can land on any 10.
The whole deal is visible, but most of the garden is still blocked. If an ace sits fourth down in a bed, you cannot take it directly. You need to move the cards above it, perhaps through the bouquet, a descending build, or an empty bed.
Version
The exact Flower Garden version on this page
This implementation uses the classic six-by-six layout: one deck, six face-up flower beds, sixteen bouquet cards, ace-up foundations, rank-only descending builds in the garden, single-card movement, and any-card empty beds. It has no draw pile and no redeal.
Some software versions adjust the column count, allow sequence movement, or soften the reserve. Those changes are not small. Sequence movement makes the garden much looser, while extra columns reduce the pressure on empty beds. This page keeps the stricter single-card game so the bouquet and spaces stay central.
Setup
Flower Garden setup and layout
- Flower beds: Six tableau columns are dealt with six face-up cards in each column.
- Bouquet: The remaining sixteen cards are dealt as visible reserve cards, all available immediately.
- Foundations: Four foundations start empty and build upward by suit from ace to king.
- Stock: None. Flower Garden has no draw pile, waste pile, redeal, or hidden stock in this version.
Flower beds
How flower-bed moves work
Flower beds build downward by rank only. The suit and color of the moving card do not matter. A queen can move onto any king, a 7 can move onto any 8, and a 2 can move onto any 3.
The move still has to be exact. You cannot place a 6 on an 8, and you cannot move a card from the middle of a bed. If a needed 5 is buried under two cards, those two cards must leave first.
Bouquet
How the bouquet reserve works
The bouquet is not a stock pile. It is a row of sixteen visible cards, and each card is available immediately. A bouquet ace can start a foundation. A bouquet 6 can move onto a bed ending in 7. A bouquet king can take over an empty bed.
Once a bouquet card leaves, its slot closes. That makes the reserve generous but not endless. Spend bouquet cards to unlock bed cards, start foundations, or create useful descents. Moving one just because it fits can bury a better plan.
Moves
Legal and illegal Flower Garden moves
Foundation moves are suit-specific and ascending. If the clubs foundation shows 4 clubs, only 5 clubs can go there. Flower-bed moves go the other direction and ignore suit. If a bed ends in 10, any 9 can land there.
The single-card rule is easy to forget because the beds can form natural-looking runs. Even if a bed shows 10-9-8 on top, you cannot lift that run as a group. You must move the 8 first, then the 9 if it becomes playable, then the 10 if it has a destination.
FoundationA hearts starts the hearts foundation
Foundation5 spades goes onto 4 spades
Flower bed7 clubs goes onto any 8
Empty bedAny available card can fill an empty flower bed
BouquetA bouquet card may move to a foundation or a flower bed
Illegal6 clubs cannot jump onto an 8
IllegalA buried garden card cannot move until it reaches the top
IllegalA completed descending run does not move as a packet
Spaces
Empty flower beds are the strongest tool
Empty beds accept any available card. They are not king-only spaces. That flexibility is the heart of Flower Garden strategy because a single empty bed can peel the top card off a blocked column and reveal the next card underneath.
A space is still easy to waste. Filling it with a card that has no follow-up may close the only lane you had. Before filling a bed, ask what the move exposes, what rank the new top card needs, and whether the card you are placing can move again soon.
Foundations
When to build the foundations
Aces and low cards usually belong on foundations quickly. They remove clutter and give later cards a permanent home. Because foundations build by suit, exposing the 2 and 3 of the same suit is often more important than making a neat-looking descending bed.
Middle cards can be more delicate. A 7 might be legal on a foundation, but it may also be the only landing place for a 6 that exposes an ace. If a foundation move takes away an important garden support, wait until that support is no longer needed.
Strategy
Flower Garden Solitaire strategy
Start by locating the aces and twos. The foundations cannot grow until those low cards are free, and their positions tell you which beds need attention first. A visible ace near the top of a bed is an early target. A buried ace may require you to reserve a space or build a descending chain that removes the blockers above it.
Use bouquet cards with a purpose. The bouquet is tempting because every card is available, but it is not a waste pile you can cycle. Strong bouquet moves either start a foundation, fill a space to free a bed, or provide the exact rank needed to move a blocker. Weak bouquet moves simply transfer clutter into the garden.
Build down to uncover, not just to tidy. A descending pile is useful when it exposes a low card, creates a future foundation path, or clears a bed. It is less useful when it stacks many cards on one column without any way to move them again.
Protect at least one empty bed when you can. Because sequences do not move together, empty space does the work that packed runs do in easier variants. The best use of a space is often temporary: move one card into the space, release the card below it, then move the temporary card onward when a matching rank appears.
Mistakes
Common Flower Garden mistakes
- Spending bouquet cards just because they have legal destinations.
- Forgetting that flower-bed moves ignore suit, while foundations require suit.
- Filling an empty bed with a card that does not uncover or support anything.
- Trying to move a descending sequence as one packet.
- Burying a useful destination rank under a card that cannot move soon.
- Moving middle cards to foundations before checking whether they are needed in the garden.
Winnability
Is Flower Garden Solitaire winnable?
Flower Garden is not always winnable from a random shuffle. It gives you more control than many hidden-card games because the tableau and bouquet are visible, but the top-card-only and single-card rules can still lock the garden.
This page does not claim a win-rate number. A useful statistic would need to be measured against this exact implementation, including its move rules, hint behavior, undo, and unfiltered random shuffles. What is fair to say is that skill matters: better play keeps spaces flexible and uses the bouquet to free low cards rather than decorate the tableau.
Variants
Flower Garden variants and nearby house rules
Flower Garden is also known as The Bouquet or The Garden, and older rule traditions use gardening names for the layout. The six columns are the flower beds, the reserve is the bouquet, and the completed foundations are the finished display.
A common easier variant deals seven columns of five cards and leaves seventeen cards in the reserve. Other relatives change the movement rules: Wildflower allows sequences to move, while Stonewall uses a similar six-column shape with face-down blockers and alternating color movement. Those games feel related, but they ask for different habits.
Nearby games
How Flower Garden compares with La Belle Lucie, Brigade, and Baker's Dozen
Flower Garden and La Belle Lucie are both open games where visible cards can still be blocked. La Belle Lucie is stricter in the tableau because fan moves build down by suit and empty fans stay closed. Flower Garden is more flexible because suits do not matter in the beds and any card can fill an empty bed, but it has no reshuffle to rescue a locked layout.
Brigade also uses visible reserve cards, but it starts with aces already on the foundations and builds tableau piles by alternating color. Baker's Dozen removes the reserve entirely and gives you thirteen open columns instead. If you like Flower Garden, those games are good next steps because they keep the focus on visible information, foundation timing, and careful use of limited space.