A few rules. A lot of little rescues.

Match & swap

Swap two neighboring plants horizontally or vertically to line up at least three of the same kind. Matches clear and surviving plants fall. Falling plants can make more matches in a cascade. The Pond, Meadow, and The Cottage Garden refill cleared spaces immediately; the Forest adds plants only on its row timer.

The Pond and The Cottage Garden use seven plant colors, including white, from the start. The Meadow and Forest use six. Bloodroot is a separate wildcard with a rainbow border and dark grey background; it does not count as an ordinary color. It does not join ordinary color matches, and other bloodroots’ color clears leave it in place.

A swap that makes no match is undone and does not consume a turn. In the Pond and Meadow, incoming plants leave a valid next move, sometimes with a wildcard to keep a tight opening playable. Those modes reshuffle when no moves remain. In the Forest, wait for a new row instead. The Cottage Garden uses natural refills and ends when no legal swaps remain.

Build a chain of three or more matches in one turn to multiply all of that turn’s points: three matches earn ×3, four earn ×4, and so on. The initial match and each cascade count as one match wave; simultaneous special effects belong to the same wave. Matches after dragonfly movement count, too. Rescue, soil, and food points share the multiplier, which resets each turn. Time bonuses and timed Forest row arrivals keep their usual rewards.

The Pond

Match the plant carrying a dragonfly, or clear it with a special, to rescue the dragonfly for 500 bonus points.

Every valid turn lifts surviving dragonflies one row. The top row is your last chance to rescue one. If it advances past the top row, the frog catches it and your run ends. New dragonflies arrive more often as you play. The number on the board is capped at two through turn 15, three through turn 35, and ten afterward. Keep matching and rescuing to build your score.

Special plants

• Four in a line: creates a surrounding burst that clears a 3×3 area.
• Five in a line: creates a wildcard. Swap it with any plant to clear that kind.
• A T, L, or + intersection: creates an upgrade that clears both its row and column.

Specials activate when matched or hit by another special, so their effects can chain together. When a horizontal, vertical, surround, or row-and-column upgrade hits bloodroot, it clears all plants of the triggering upgrade’s color. Swap two bloodroots to clear the whole board. New plants have a 1 in 1,000 chance (0.1%) in the Pond, Meadow, and Cottage Garden, or 0.5% in the Forest of arriving as bloodroot, a wildcard you can swap with any plant to clear that kind. In the Forest only, each non-bloodroot plant also has a 0.5% chance of arriving with a horizontal line clear, vertical line clear, or 3×3 surround burst, chosen with equal odds.

The Meadow

Start with 90 seconds. Soil occupies the lower board: match plants immediately above or beside it to dig. Diagonal matches do not dig. Pale limestone takes one stone hit, gray slate two, golden sandstone three, and dark basalt four. Each then leaves bare earth requiring one final hit to clear. Each rock keeps its material as damage adds deep cracks, chipped edges, and exposed soil. Screen-reader labels describe hits taken and hits remaining. A brief dust burst marks each impact; reduced motion skips it. Direct special blasts remove two layers, while adjacent matches remove one.

Clear every soil tile above the dashed dig line (below row six) to dig deeper and gain 30 seconds. Clear the whole board’s soil in one turn for 90 seconds. Two wildcards clear all plants, soil, and stones. The remaining earth rises and fresh soil appears below.

Find food for the robin: grubs for 200, worms for 500, and beetles for 1,500 bonus points. At depths 8, 16, and 24, new ground contains more stones and its food bonuses rise to ×2, ×3, and ×4. Rocks can take three hits from depth 16 and four hits from depth 24. Buried food keeps the value it had when it appeared. Each soil tile adds 50 points alongside your usual match score. Hint favors digging moves. When the clock reaches zero, the robin flies away and your run ends. Pause, Settings, and hidden tabs pause the clock; so do match animations.

The Forest

An eastern gray squirrel watches over the clearing. Start with three rows at the bottom of an eight-row board. The countdown starts at 10 seconds; a new row adds one plant above each column’s stack and resets it to 10 seconds.

Each successful player move adds 5 seconds to the time remaining until the next row. Bonuses stack and can take the countdown above 10 seconds. Each move earns one bonus, including its cascades and specials. Incoming-row matches do not add time.

Swap two plants separated by any number of empty spots in a straight row or column, or slide a plant into an empty spot, to make a match. The destination can contain another plant; only the intervening cells must be empty. Plants or soil in between block the move. Select the plant first, then its destination, or drag it there; moves that make no match are undone. Matches and specials clear plants, and survivors fall. Cleared tiles are not automatically replaced: only the row timer brings new plants. Incoming plants can make matches and cascades. If no legal swaps remain, wait for the next row.

A column can hold eight tiles. Your run ends only when a new row would add another tile to a column that is already full. Clear space before the next arrival. Hint favors reducing the tallest stack and includes distant swaps and slides through empty spaces. Menus and hidden tabs pause the row timer; match animations count toward the next row.

The Cottage Garden

A wren watches over a garden of peas, carrots, tomatoes, borage, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and white snapdragons. Swap adjacent plants to match three or more, clear them, and let fresh plants fall into the gaps. Cascades and special plants grow your score.

Take your time: there is no clock or move limit. Keep making matches until the settled board has no legal swaps left. The run ends naturally, with your final score and best score. Start another garden whenever you like. Hint suggests a scoring move, and returning to the garden resumes your saved run.