Moolinda Wu in Wizard City, Ravenwood
To get started on your path to a greener thumb, come visit her in her life classroom in Ravenwood if you are level 12 or higher.
Students at Ravenwood can plant and grow amazing plants in their Dorms and Castles! Wizards of all schools can garden, so my hope is that every student will learn the joy of shepherding new life!
A plant's journey of life begins as a seed. There are many types of seeds, each with a different destiny. With enough energy, you can prepare soil of your choice in your Castle (if you have one) or a planter in your dorm. Then you can place the seed into the readied soil. After a time, it will begin to grow. You can shepherd its growth through spells and other means of caring for it, creating an environment for it to thrive.
Where do I get Seeds?
Farley in Wizard City, Golem Court
You can get seeds from gardening vendors throughout the Spiral. Farley is the gardening vendor in Wizard City's Golem Court, look for his cousins Marley, Charley and Harley in other worlds. You can also earn seeds as rewards through defeating enemies in magic duels, or get them in other ways.
After you've planted your seed, it starts to grow, from seed to seedling, young plant, mature plant to elder. You can use a number of helpful spells to usher it along as it grows, keeping it healthy and happy. Once you have planted a seedling, either in a plot or in a pot, it cannot be moved.
Seed
This is a seedling, the youngest phase of life for a plant. You will need Energy to plant a seed in a planter or the ground. After a seed is planted, you can use plant growth spells on it to help it flourish. Plants require some things to thrive and survive: water, sunshine, pollination, magic and even music.
Once a plant has matured a little, it will enter the young plant phase. From there it will continue to grow.
Matured Seed
This is a mature plant, in the fullness of its growth. When a plant becomes mature, it can be harvested. You can harvest a plant by interacting with it. Each type of plant yields a different harvest: reagents, pet snacks, gold, treasure cards, or more seeds! You can harvest from a plant as long as it's in its mature stage of life. When a plant is in its mature stage that doesn’t mean that you can harvest it right away or that it’s continually harvestable. It means that once every day or so it will be harvestable so long as it’s in that mature state.
Elder Plant
This is an elder plant, the final stage of a plant's life cycle. Many plants won't reach this stage! An elder plant can be harvested one final time, with much greater possible rewards. Once an elder plant is harvested, it disappears and cannot be revived. You can choose to remove a plant or dirt pile with the Plow Spell.
Plants have Needs!
When your plant has a need, it will let you know. These icons will appear above your plant and you must cast the corresponding spell to fulfill the needs shown.
Needs water
Your plant needs water.
Needs sun
Your plant needs sun.
Needs magic
Your plant needs magic
Needs music
Your plant needs music.
Needs pollination
Your plant needs pollination.
Just because your plant is growing in a medium size plot or pot, does not mean it needs the medium size spell. However the higher level spells will cast on more than one plant.
Your plant may also get pests, both good and bad. Rid your plant of these pests by casting the appropriate spell for the level of the pest. Good pests are rare, and you cannot (nor do you want to) remove them from your plants.
I'm sad to say that gardening isn't all nurturing and happiness. Plants can be endangered by some very real threats.
Wilting Plant
This plant is wilting. It will die before too long if it is not taken care of. Plants can die if their needs are not met, if they are in surrounded by things they dislike, or if they are killed by pests.
Plants have likes and dislikes, things that encourage or discourage their growth. A plant's likes are things it enjoyes being near. These can include other types of plants or gardening items. A plant will flourish if it is near things that it likes, while things it dislikes will cause it to become unhealthy. An important part of gardening is learning how to arrange your plants, and create a healthy garden for them.
This plant is dead. Now all that can be done is to plow it over, or to revive it.
Dead Plant
The greatest threat to plants are pests. Pests can infest a plant and hinder its growth. If pests are not eliminated, eventually the plant will begin to wilt and die. When a plant is infested by pests, it cannot be harvested. To eliminate pests, you must use pest fighting spells. To eliminate a pest, the spell must be of high enough rank.
You can purchase pest fighting spells from vendors throughout the Spiral, or even win them as treasures. It's a sorry state to see plants doing so poorly, but it's important to know what risks there are when gardening.
How do I Plant?
When you're ready to plant a seed in prepared soil or a planter, you must cast a seed planting spell. These spells can be learned at the gardening vendors - they cost gold to learn. Soil preparation spells cost Energy to cast. This places the chosen seed into the soil or planter, where it can begin to grow.
To prepare an area for planting outdoors in your Castle, you must cast a soil preparation spell. Soil preparation spells cost Energy. To garden in your dorm room or an indoor space in your Castle, you must buy a planter from the gardening vendor. There are different sizes and types of plants, but some types of plants cannot be planted indoors.
Plants require attention to grow in the form of plant growing spells. All plants have needs that must be met, and plant growing spells fulfill those needs for a period of time. Plants needs include water, sunlight, pollination, music and magic. Plant growing spells cost Energy to cast, and are cast through the garden interface in your home.
Plants have likes & dislikes, conditions that can help them grow or hinder their development. A plant will grow faster if it is surrouned by things it likes, and it will grow slower if it is surrounded by things it dislikes. You can learn what a plant likes or dislikes by hovering your mouse over it while you are in the Gardening window.
Plants go through several stages as they grow, from seed to seedling to young plant to mature plant to elder plant. Once a plant is mature, you can harvest it by interacting with it. A plant can be harvested repeatedly until it reaches the elder stage. Harvesting yields rewards such as reagents, pet snacks, gold, treasure cards or other seeds. When a plant reaches the elder stage, it can be harvested only one more time. This harvest will yield the greatest rewards. After this, the elder plant will disappear.
Gardening Tools
Gardening Tool
Utility spells are useful for many aspects of gardening. The plow spell removes a targeted plant or dirt pile. The Revive spell lets you turn a plant that has died into a young plant of the same type.
Pests
Pests
Plants can sometimes suffer from pests. Pests are annoying critters that will cause it to wilt and die if they are not dealt with. To get rid of pests, you will need to cast the appropriate pest fighting spell. Different types of pests require different types of spells. Pests are ranked and require spells equal to or greater than their rank.
If you have a high enough gardening rank, you can cast pest prevention spells to keep pests away from your garden. You can buy pest fighting and pest prevention spells from certain trainers throughout the Spiral, you can buy them at the Crown shop or you can earn them through treasure rewards. Each plant differs by how easy they are to garden, how long they take to grow and mature and how long they live.
As you continue to garden you will earn gardening experience through successfully harvesting plants. There are 10 ranks of gardening:
Novice
Neophyte
Apprentice
Initiate
Intermediate
Journeyman
Expert
Adept
Master
Grandmaster
The types of seeds you can plant may be restricted, requiring a minimum gardening rank. Additionally, some kinds of gardening equipment and spells require minimum gardening rank to use.
Happy Gardening! :D