🌱 Backyard Gardener Shortcodes
Complete reference guide for embedding garden features on your WordPress pages
⭐ What’s New in v2.0.0
Enhanced Weather Integration: The weather widget now captures 100% of available Weather Underground data (up from 70%) and includes three detail levels for flexible display!
- Geographic Awareness – Station name, location, and elevation
- Cardinal Wind Directions – “SE” instead of just “135°”
- Complete Temperature Data – Separate heat index and wind chill
- Metric Units – Pressure in both inches and millibars
- Three Detail Levels – Minimal, standard, and full views
- Enhanced Metrics – UV index, dew point, solar radiation
🌤️ Weather Widget ⭐ Enhanced in v2.0.0! Public
New in v2.0.0: Now captures 100% of Weather Underground data with enhanced display options! Shows current weather conditions including temperature (actual, feels-like, heat index, wind chill, dew point), humidity, cardinal wind directions, UV index, solar radiation, barometric pressure (inches & millibars), station location, and elevation.
What’s New:
- ⭐ Three detail levels – minimal, standard (default), full
- ⭐ Geographic data – station name, location, elevation
- ⭐ Cardinal wind directions – “SE” instead of “135°”
- ⭐ Enhanced temperature – separate heat index & wind chill
- ⭐ Metric units – pressure in both inches and millibars
- ⭐ Complete weather metrics – UV, dew point, solar radiation
| Attribute | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
station_id | (from settings) | Weather Underground station ID |
details | standard | NEW! Display level: minimal, standard, or full |
show_forecast | yes | Show forecast data (if available) |
show_alerts | yes | Show weather alerts (if available) |
Detail Levels:
minimal– Temperature, humidity, wind only (compact sidebar view)standard– All minimal + precipitation, UV index, station info (default)full– All data including dew point, pressure, solar radiation, elevation, coordinates
[bg_weather]
[bg_weather details="minimal"]
[bg_weather details="full"]
[bg_weather station_id="KGAATLAN1017" details="full"]
🌿 My Plants List Login Required
Displays a grid of the user’s plants with photos, names, planter types, and planting dates. Fully filterable by plant type and status.
| Attribute | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
limit | 10 | Number of plants to show |
type | (all) | Filter by plant type (vegetable, flower, herb, fruit, etc.) |
status | active | Filter by status (active, harvested, removed) |
show_photos | yes | Display plant photos |
[bg_my_plants limit="20" type="vegetable"]
[bg_my_plants status="active" show_photos="no"]
📅 Planting Calendar Public
Displays a monthly calendar view with planting dates, harvest windows, and maintenance activities.
| Attribute | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
month | current | Month to display (1-12 or “current”) |
year | (current year) | Year to display |
view | month | Calendar view type |
[bg_planting_calendar month="3" year="2026"]
📊 Garden Summary Login Required
Displays an overview dashboard of the user’s garden including total plants, active/growing count, number of varieties, and USDA zone information.
No attributes – displays all garden statistics automatically.
💡 Recommendations Widget Login Required
Shows personalized gardening tips and recommendations based on weather conditions, plant status, and seasonal timing.
| Attribute | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
count | 5 | Number of recommendations to show |
type | all | Filter by recommendation type |
[bg_recommendations count="10"]
🔍 Plant Search Public
Displays a search form for finding plants in the database by common name or scientific name.
No attributes – displays a search form with results area.
🤖 Gardening Chatbot Public
Embeds an AI-powered gardening assistant that can answer questions about plants, growing conditions, pest control, and provide personalized advice based on your garden data.
| Attribute | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
title | Gardening Assistant | Chatbot header title |
height | 500px | Height of chatbot container |
show_status | yes | Show connection status indicator |
show_actions | yes | Show action buttons (clear, export) |
[bg_chatbot title="Ask the Garden Expert" height="600px"]
📋 Quick Reference
| Shortcode | Purpose | Login Required |
|---|---|---|
[bg_weather] | Weather conditions from PWS | No |
[bg_my_plants] | User’s plant list grid | Yes |
[bg_planting_calendar] | Monthly calendar view | No |
[bg_garden_summary] | Garden statistics dashboard | Yes |
[bg_recommendations] | Smart gardening tips | Yes |
[bg_plant_search] | Plant database search | No |
[bg_chatbot] | AI gardening assistant | No |
💡 Pro Tips
- Combine shortcodes on a single page to create a comprehensive garden dashboard
- Use attributes to customize the display for different pages or user needs
- Login-required shortcodes will show a “Please log in” message to visitors
- Weather widget uses your configured PWS by default – no need to specify station_id
- Chatbot provides personalized answers when the user is logged in with garden data
📄 Example Page Layout
<!-- Header with weather -->
[bg_weather]
<!-- Garden overview -->
[bg_garden_summary]
<!-- Today's recommendations -->
[bg_recommendations count="3"]
<!-- My plants grid -->
[bg_my_plants limit="12" show_photos="yes"]
<!-- Chatbot for questions -->
[bg_chatbot title="Need Help?" height="400px"]🌱 Backyard Gardener v2.0.0 • IT Influentials
“`