In Garden Nation, the four clans want to build a city on the garden's seven territories, but each tries to gain the upper hand.

In the game, you build buildings by rearranging coffee pots or bird feeders to complete official projects and secret missions. However, the other leaders will not allow this and will invade opponents' buildings to try to take them back.

Your main actions during play are to build or abandon a building and validate a common project. Over the course of the game, the 3D city gradually grows on the board, with the location of your action determining where the next action will be taken, and you decide who will act.