Flower Garden
Added 02/2026
By Martin Petroff
If you have grown to love the zero-luck, pure-strategy elements of the FreeCell family, it is time to take a stroll through the Flower Garden. This beautifully themed solitaire variation is one of the most unique and highly strategic open-information games ever created. What makes Flower Garden so special is its massive 16-card reserve—affectionately known as "The Bouquet." Unlike traditional games where your reserve cards are hidden face-down in a stock pile, every single card in the Bouquet is visible and available to be played at any time.
Because you build the tableau down regardless of suit or color, the game feels incredibly fluid. However, untangling your starting layout requires meticulous forward-planning. A skilled player can win a very high percentage of their games, making this a highly rewarding puzzle for those who love to think five steps ahead.
How to Play
With all 52 cards completely visible from the very first second, there are no nasty surprises waiting for you. Your success depends entirely on how effectively you can manage your 16-card Bouquet to manipulate the board.
The Objective: Your goal is to move all 52 cards to the four "Foundation" piles at the top right of the board. You must build these foundations up by the exact same suit, starting from the Ace and ascending all the way to the King.
The Setup (The Flower Beds & The Bouquet):
Use one standard 52-card deck.
Deal 36 cards face up into six columns across your main board. Every column receives exactly 6 cards, fanned downward so you can see them all. These six columns are your "Flower Beds."
Take the remaining 16 cards and fan them out face-up at the bottom of the screen (or in a horizontal line). This massive reserve is your "Bouquet."
Reserve space at the top right for your four empty Foundation piles.
How to Play:
The Forgiving Building Rule: You build the tableau columns down in rank regardless of suit or color. This means any 7 (Hearts, Clubs, Spades, or Diamonds) can be placed on top of any 8.
The Magic of the Bouquet: Here is where the game shines. Any of the 16 cards in the Bouquet can be played at any time. You do not have to play them in order. You can pluck a card from the Bouquet and place it directly onto a Foundation pile, or use it to build onto your tableau columns to help move other cards around.
Moving Cards: You can generally only move one fully exposed card at a time from the bottom of a tableau column.
Empty Flower Beds: If you manage to completely clear one of your six tableau columns, you can move any available card (from the Bouquet or the bottom of another column) into that empty space.
The Strategy: Empty columns are your most valuable resource. Because Kings can only be moved to an empty column (or to a finished Foundation at the very end of the game), you must work diligently to free up space to move Kings out of the way so you can access the cards trapped beneath them.