first, the layouts- why do we need a layout editor? i am having a hard time learning it. i have houses on eq1 and the placement is so simple there- just a couple of buttons and you can flip, rotate, change heading, etc. granted it would be nice if everything were free-placeable, but most is and it is extremely easy. why can't i turn the tall panel into a long panel with the touch of a button? I bought the tenebrous retreat. now where do i find trees and plants so i can make a nice garden?
As far as the layouts question, I dont have an answer. I dont know their reasoning behind how they scripted the housing programs. But for the trees and plants, the perfect place is moonlight enchantment. You have good timing too, it starts in like 2 days. Moonlight Enchantments
People have been asking for the ability to pitch/roll house items in-game for ages. So far there's been no official response. For plants, Moonlight Enchantments is where you get most of them. But there are also some crafted and quested plants: eq2decorators.com/house_items/house_items_plants.php
Part of the reason is probably because the rotation button is tied to the starting position of the item. If you rotate a wall object, it'll turn around the x axis or y axis or some weird values of xy depending on the wall position. If you rotate a floor or ceiling item, it'll rotate around the z axis. Adding pitch/roll values could break the rotating system. EQ, on the other hand, had a housing system built in recently and they factored every rotation when they created it. At least, that's my understanding on why pitch and roll were not added yet. For plants, you'll find everything plant related on this page too: http://eq2furniture.com/index.php?category=Plants (should give same results as eq2decorators, but the categories are not the same so knowing both websites might help)