Flower Garden

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The parts of the layout
3. Setup
4. Playing
5. Winning
6. Tips for beginners
7. Variants

Overview

Flower Garden is a patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) in which every card lies face up from the start. The "garden" is six columns of cards, the "flower beds"; the "bouquet" is sixteen cards you hold in your hand and may play at any time. You try to sort the whole deck onto four piles, one per suit, from Ace up to King. Because you can see everything, careful planning wins many games.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.

The parts of the layout

• Garden (tableau): six columns of six cards each, the "flower beds". The cards of a column overlap downwards so you can see all of them. Only the last card of each column – the one lying on top, not covered by any other – can be moved.
• Bouquet (reserve): the sixteen remaining cards, spread face up in a fan in your hand or on the table. Every card of the bouquet can be played at any time.
• Foundations: four piles above the garden, one per suit, where all the cards should end up. They start empty.

Setup

Shuffle and deal 36 cards face up into six columns of six, dealing row by row and overlapping the rows. Spread the other 16 cards face up as the bouquet. Leave room above the garden for the four foundations. (Example – the bottom row holds the playable cards.)

Playing

There are no rounds – you make one move after another, in any order you like:

1. To a foundation: an Ace that becomes free starts a foundation. On it goes the 2 of the same suit, then the 3, and so on up to the King.
2. In the garden: you may put a card on the last card of a column if it is one rank lower, of any suit – this is called building down regardless of suit. A 7 of any suit fits on any 8; a Queen fits on a King.
3. One card at a time: only single cards move, never several cards together.
4. The bouquet: any bouquet card may go onto a foundation or onto a column in the garden whenever it fits. A card that has left the bouquet can never go back.
5. Empty column: when a column is completely cleared, you may put any card there – the last card of another column or any card from the bouquet. This is the only way to move a King out of the way.

Example: The A♦ lies at the end of column 2, covering the 8♣ above it. It goes to a foundation at once. The 2♦ is in the bouquet and follows it. Now the 8♣ is free: you could place the 7♥ from the bouquet on it – but it is better to look first for a 7 in the garden, because every card the bouquet gives up is one less card you can use at any time.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. When no more useful moves are possible, the game is lost. There is only one deal – no redeal.

Tips for beginners

• Look for the Aces, 2s and 3s first: a single low card buried under a King can block the whole game.
• Use bouquet cards in the garden only when you have to. Cards in the bouquet are always available; once they are in a column, they are not.
• An empty column is useful, but emptying one by overloading the others may cost more than it gains.
• Before a move, ask which card it frees – and whether that card can go somewhere.

Variants

• Moving sequences: many computer versions (sometimes under the name Wildflower) allow you to move a whole descending sequence from one column to another, or into an empty column. This makes the game easier.
• Larger garden: Wikipedia describes an easier layout with seven columns of five cards and a bouquet of 17.