I just googled the images for small garden plans and got quite a large number of clickable pictures, diagrams, plant lists, etc. Not all are necessarily islands, but some good ideas nonetheless. It is always amazing to me that "small" is such a subjective term - in most of the literature small starts at about an acre.

Among other garden areas in my large yard, I inherited an island bed (40'x12')in full sun. It was overplanted, overgrown and much in need of an overhaul. Fortunately, it was originally well thought out. The centerpiece was a Northern Lights azalea so I used that "focal point" to work out from in all directions. Since I can't draw worth a tinker's damn, I used a ruler, quarter, nickel, and dime to plot out the rearranging/dividing/thinning/eliminating existing plant stock.

Great full sun plants for our zone(s) and tried and true for me, are tall garden phlox, platycodon (balloon flowers), nepeta, Siberian Iris, tall bearded iris, Veronica, salvia, peonies, daylilies, baby's breath, sedums, Oriental, Asiatic lilies - also the true tiger lilies (not ditch lilies), dianthus, black eyed Susans, and there are so many more to choose from...

Sometimes it just doesn't all fall into place on the first or second or third or... try, but the nice thing about plants is they can be moved.

I guess I don't really have any objections to a good garden plan if in fact one even exists, but there are just so many variables about your particular garden that couldn't be taken into account in one "cookie cutter" plan.

A huge part of gardening for me is trying things, making mistakes, learning from those and trying again. Once you come up with some combination of plants that is pleasing to you, all that effort is so worth it. You learn so much in the process too. Don't be afraid to experiment, fail miserably and move on. In this business, persistence pays off big time eventually.

Kevin

I agree with Kevin. To me, an appropriate plan for an island bed, or any bed, is the physical layout of the bed, and not a schematic of plants. Get the size, shape, height, paths and irrigation scheme planned out, and start by building the bed. Once it's exactly as you want it to be, you can start planting it.

All the above is great advice. Here's a little more. The problem with pre drawn plans is they are for that evasive "average" garden. They can never take into account your specific site, light, water, soil and tastes.
Here's a very simple process that may help you get started. Do know that the real pleasure is in the process, so don't be afraid to experiment, move around, and even start over.
1. Decide where the bed will go, and lay out the shape. Think big! For an island I like it to be 14 to 16 feet deep.
2. Using graph paper, with one square being equal to one square foot, draw out the bed. Make several copies. Note light conditions, moisture, etc.
3. Choose a color scheme for your bed. This will not only make for a more beautiful bed, but will also help you begin to sort out which of your favorite 300 you should use in this bed. (You can always build others for other colors later.)
4. Start choosing your plants by starting with the "bones". These are the plants (often, shrubs or small trees) that you see 12 months a year either because they are evergreen, have showy bark, or have great form and structure even when their foliage and flowers are gone. Choose only plants that will grow well in your area!!! Draw them onto your graph paper, allowing them their full mature size. Put the biggest ones toward the center of your bed. Remember they will be seen from every side in an island. This is a good time to draw in any hardscape features like a statue, pot, fountain etc. too.
5. Go to books, plant encyclopedias, seed and nursery catalogues and begin looking for plants you want.
Think in terms of how many square feet each one will need. Give approximately 1/3 of the remaining footage in your bed to spring bloomers, 1/3 to summer bloomers, and 1/3 to fall bloomers. Remember that any plant will look better in a clump. Don't plant 300 plants, one of each. You'll get a more pleasing bed by planting 5 each of 60 (this is just an example, remember!:) The smaller the plant, the more of it you will need to make an impact. The larger the plant, the fewer of it you need to plant.

As you choose your plants keep the following in mind: does it work with your color scheme? Does it thrive in your area? Sure, it has great flowers, but how does it look the rest of the year? Choose plants that have good looking foliage and form, as well as blooms. Choose contrasting shapes, forms, and textures: rounded, spiky, upright, fountains, vases, barrels, bold, fine, etc. Color is important, but it's not all there is.

As you draw your choices onto your graph paper, picture them as they will relate to the other plants around them. Will they be hidden by something? Will a larger plant shade them, and if so will that be good or bad? How does the foliage look when paired against its neighbors? Are they in a place where they can get the amount of water and sun they need?

I like to have my blooms for spring, summer, fall, etc. coming and going all over the garden throughout the season, so I spread them out and mix them in to other season's bloomers. This is another reason to consider the quality of a plant's foliage.

Make room for annuals. They will keep the show going when the perennials are resting. I like to put annuals in the front edges especially.

This is a very simplistic formula, but I think you will find it to be a helpful starting point for the design process. (Soil preparation, edging, etc. are equally important considerations.)

By all means, read! There are so many great books out there. I spend every winter reading, learning, dreaming, and planning. It never fails to pay off.

duluthinbloomz4 - all of those garden plans are off the Spring Hill Nursery Site. That seems to be the problem.

donnabaskets - OK - how do I say this . . . .you are not understanding the problem. Why reinvent the wheel. Your post makes perfect sense but why should "I" have to choose between the known 10,000 perennials. Why not find a template to begin with. What you say makes sense and is written in all the books, but FOR ME - the fun is not starting with nothing, it is starting with "something" and then changing it.

I'm a programmer - I take templates and mold them to what I want - nobody starts from scratch - why reinvent the wheel. Why make mistakes that need not be made.

Why not find something that a very very smart, artistic person created, grow it and then find the flaws and make it your own.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lasagna Beds for Beginners by a beginner

Okay. Point well taken. I would go to Amazon.com and search for good gardening books that have plans in them. Also, several of the nurseries have pre-planned beds in their catalogs. Why not start with them?
Some books I have that have garden templates would be:
Designing with Perennials by Pamela Harper
The 60 Minute Flower Garden by Jeff Ball and Charles O. Cresson (for beginners)
The Border Book by Anna Pavord (the entire book is plans)

Don't take me wrong - I appreciate the help. I think I have something akin to writers block when if comes to gardens.

I know all of the ideas, goals, techniques but I just can not decide WHAT I want. Once I see what others have done, THEN I can start to switch this for that and add height here and there or move the tall plant from dead center to the left more and so forth.

Thank goodness I still have 7 months before I plant anything LOL

I'm not sure how you're getting to Spring Hill Nursery by Googling the images for small garden plans - there were 1,900,000 results and none of the pictures cited on the first 3 pages I looked at were Spring Hill.

I agree, someone else's plans aren't universally right because they don't take into consideration the individual conditions we all face or what our individual likes and dislikes are. And templates for gardening would produce extremely predictable cookie cutter stuff, pretty much like many of our suburban neighborhoods. Gardening is often a think outside the box experience; and a template won't do that for you. That being said, they can give you an idea of what can be done with a finite amount of space and suitable plant material. If you're a visual person, like the OP seems to be, it's oftentimes infinitely more productive to actually see something as opposed to discussing it in the abstract.

One more point. Garden plans from Spring Hill or any other such commercial site will be pushing the plants they have in large quantities. That doesn't actually guarantee a great design! You'd do better to look at independent designs.

Picture books! I like to use them for inspiration. There's a couple of good (read: inexpensive) sources on the web like A1 Books (dot com) where you can search for one thing, and (this is the best (?) part) then they suggest other titles that are similar. I found that the local Borders bookstore actually was of no help at all, since most of their titles were merely a plethora of books with "lists" of plants, but no actual garden pictures and/or design layouts.

Here's the entire listing...were you on this page?

I like "coffee table" size picture books, and found several at A1 last fall for browsing over the winter.

Another suggestion: BHG's plans might be for 'one-sided' designs (but I've seen 'islands' over there, so maybe you just missed them), but you can certainly "mirror" it to create the island effect. Just plant the same things on the other side, or take two similar designs and plant them back-to-back. Oh, and take note of the "alternative" plant suggestions that they list, too. You might like one of those better, or it might work better in your area/space/conditions.

Here is a link that might be useful: BHG garden plan listing

BHG garden plan listing - yea - those are nice. I have most of those downloaded. Problem there is that most of the "Bed" gardens are actually border gardens!

But they are nice.

duluthinbloomz4 - if you go to the Spring Hill website you will see all of the plans other sites use are on their site and created by Spring Hill.