As anyone who's installed the wildly popular 99-cent  iPhone app Koi Pond knows, an app doesn't have to do much to be worth a a buck or two.

Flower Garden is one of those apps that--although it won't help you accomplish anything real (like tracking your budget or getting your to-do list taken care of)--is certainly entertaining to have on your iPhone or iPod touch.

The Tiger Bell grows and blooms overnight and produces lots of blooms.

It's a virtual garden that requires your TLC in the form of watering your flower pots so the flowers can grow. In return, you get to watch them sprout and bloom, and you can cut bouquets of homegrown posies and email them as slightly-cheesy-but still-sweet e-greetings to loved ones. (After all, is there anything not cheesy about e-greetings?).

 
We got to see these Starburst flowers go from bud to bloom in a few minutes during our morning train commute.

To plant a packet of flower seeds, you tap Seeds and choose the flower you want to plant. When you first start, you'll only have two or three choices--the longer you play the more new seed packets you'll unlock, so you can get more variety in your garden.

You can choose to plant flowers based on how easy they are to care for, how long they take to grow, and how many blooms they produce. To plant seeds, tap on the Plant icon (inside the white circle).

 
It doesn't take long for more seed varieties to be unlocked.

To see your garden in its entirety, tap on the garden icon in the lower left, or scroll through each pot individually, the same way you scroll through photos in your Camera Roll or photo Library.

Once flowers in a pot have grown tall and bloomed, you can cut virtual bouquets with one or more flower varieties and email them to loved ones with a greeting.

There are a couple key things we hope Snappy Touch will address in a future update: First, there's no easy way to tell what seeds are planted in each pot in your garden, especially before they bloom--and even after they bloom, it's asking too much for us to remember every flower's name. Second, there's a bit of a lag when you double-tap a blooming flower pot to cut one bloom for a bouquet (you also get the option to discard one flower or the entire pot).


There really should be a fast way to find out what these seedlings will grow into once they bloom, but in the first version of Flower Garden, there isn't--yet.

Still, even with these issues, this app is a lot of fun and quite addicting. We've already brightened a few people's day by sending them virtual bouquets.

Spread digital cheer with some fresh-picked pixels.

 If you're looking for a way to celebrate Earth Day without actually getting your hands dirty, installing Flower Garden is one way to do it.

Flower Garden
COMPANY: Snappy Touch
CONTACT: www.snappytouch.com
PRICE: $1.99
REQUIREMENTS: iPhone or iPod touch

Easy to use and quickly addicting. Most flower varieties grow quickly, offering near-instant gratification. Alerts appear when you need to water certain flower pots.
Sometimes sluggish response to tapping on flowers to cut them for a bouquet. There should be a way to tell what seeds are growing in each pot, especially before the plants bloom.