Virtual reality (VR) has been evaluated as a design tool in a variety of different tasks but incorporating it in planting design workflows has not been thoroughly researched. This paper describes the creation of a VR workflow to facilitate planting design natively in VR and evaluates students’ experience designing in VR. Students responded positively to the use of VR and believed that it helped improve their planting designs. Evaluation of the designs suggest that improved spatial awareness had direct impact on student design decisions. However, students reported a steep learning curve technologically, and some frustration with a lack of precision within the VR environment.