Home / Card / Flower Garden Solitaire
Flower Garden Solitaire is the classic open patience of flower beds and a bouquet, free to play online in your browser with no download and no sign-up. Thirty-six cards are dealt face up into six flower beds of six cards each, and the other sixteen are spread out as the bouquet — and every bouquet card can be played at any time. Only the top card of a bed moves: build down regardless of suit, any 6 on any 7, lay bouquet cards on the beds or put any card in an empty bed, and send each suit up to its foundation from Ace to King. With all 52 cards in view it is a game of planning rather than luck: our solver finds a win in 1,604 of the first 2,400 deals, while a player who only looks one move ahead wins just 75. Drag or tap the cards, undo any move, ask for a hint that knows whether the deal can still be won, replay a deal by its number, and choose random or winnable deals.
How to play Flower Garden Solitaire
- The game deals all 52 cards face up. Thirty-six go into six flower beds of six cards each — together they make the garden — and the remaining sixteen are spread out as the bouquet.
- The four foundations, one per suit, start empty. Each builds up in suit from Ace to King: A, 2, 3 and so on. An Ace goes home by itself as soon as it is free, and so does a Two once its Ace is home.
- Only the top card of each bed is in play, and cards move one at a time. Move a top card onto another bed when it is exactly one rank lower — the suit does not matter, so any 6 goes on any 7.
- Every card in the bouquet is in play at all times. You can send a bouquet card home, lay it on a bed whose top card is one rank higher, or put it into an empty bed. Cards never go back into the bouquet.
- A bed that empties takes any card: the top card of another bed or a card from the bouquet. Drag a card where you want it, or tap it to send it home, else onto a bed one rank higher, else into an empty bed.
- The game also sends a card home for you when nothing could still need it — once all four cards one rank lower are home. You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations; if no card can ever go home again, the deal is lost — undo, replay it or start a new one.
Tips
- Every card is face up, so read the whole garden before your first move. Find each Ace and Two and count the cards lying on top of them — those beds are where the game is decided.
- The bouquet is your reserve, so do not spend it early. A bouquet card laid on a bed is no longer free to go anywhere else; play one when it lets a bed card move onto it, or when it can go straight home.
- An empty bed is the strongest thing in the game, because it takes any card. Use it to lift a high card off the low cards underneath it rather than filling it with whatever is handy.
- High cards buried deep in a bed are the real trouble: a King can only move into an empty bed or home. Plan where your Kings and Queens will go before you dig towards the Aces under them.
- Press Hint whenever you are unsure. While a winning line exists it shows its next step and says so; once a deal can no longer be won it tells you, so you know to undo rather than play on.
FAQ
Is Flower Garden Solitaire free to play?
Yes. Flower Garden Solitaire is completely free to play online in your browser, with no download, no account and no in-game purchases. It works on phones, tablets and computers.
How do you play Flower Garden Solitaire?
All 52 cards are dealt face up: six flower beds of six cards, and a bouquet of sixteen. Only the top card of a bed moves, building down regardless of suit; any bouquet card can be played at any time; and an empty bed takes any card. Build each suit up on the four foundations from Ace to King to win.
What are the beds and the bouquet?
The six piles of the tableau are the flower beds, and together they make the garden. The sixteen cards dealt apart are the bouquet, a reserve in which every card is available at once. The game is also known as The Bouquet and The Garden.
Can I play any card from the bouquet?
Yes — that is what makes Flower Garden different. Every bouquet card is in play all the time: it can go home to its foundation, onto a bed whose top card is one rank higher, or into an empty bed. Once a card leaves the bouquet it never goes back.
What can go into an empty bed?
Any card: the top card of another bed or any card from the bouquet. An empty bed is the most useful space in the game, because it is the only place a King can go before it goes home.
Does the suit matter when building on the beds?
No. On the beds you build down regardless of suit, so any 6 goes on any 7, and cards move one at a time. Only the foundations care about suit: each one builds up in a single suit from Ace to King.
How often can you win Flower Garden Solitaire?
We measured it on the first 2,400 deals. With every card in view, a solver that searches the moves ahead finds a win in 1,604 of them, about 67 deals in every 100. A player that sends cards home and otherwise makes whichever single move looks best wins only 75 — about one deal in 32. The difference is planning: in which order you use the bouquet and the empty beds decides the game.
What does Winnable deals mode do?
It deals only hands the solver has played all the way to a win: the 1,604 winnable deals it found among the first 2,400. Random deals, the default, draws from all 999,999 deal numbers. A winnable deal can still be lost by a wrong move — undo and the hint will get you back on track.
How does the hint work?
The hint asks the same solver. While it can find a winning line from your position, it shows that line's next step and says so; tapping the hinted card plays it. When it can prove that no line wins from here, the hint tells you the deal can no longer be won, so you know to undo. If it runs out of time first, it shows a sensible move and says no winning line was found.
Why do some cards go home by themselves?
Aces always do, and so do Twos once their Ace is home. Any other card goes home by itself only once all four cards one rank lower are already home — at that point no card left could ever build on it, so keeping it out would never help. Every other card waits for you to send it.
Can I undo a move, and what is the deal number?
Yes, every move can be undone one at a time, right back to the deal, even after the game has ended. Every game has a number from 1 to 999,999 shown at the top of the table; the same number always deals the same cards, so Replay deal gives you the same game again and New deal picks a different one.
Does it save my game, and can I play with a keyboard?
An unfinished deal is saved in your browser and picks up where you left it. With a keyboard, the arrow keys move between the piles, Enter plays the card there, U undoes, H asks for a hint and N starts a new deal.