How large is large? I would start by looking at lots and lots of photos of gardens. Look online and get books and magazines from the library. Decide what you like for overall appearance (cottage garden look or Piet Oudolf style meadow or more formal, etc.) and what will suit your site. Research what plants you like the most including size, color, and bloom season as well as growing needs, and then take graph paper (1"=1') and outline your garden. Make little blobs for in scale models of your favorite plants (multiples of each) and of other plants that you think might work. Note on them height, bloom time, and color (perhaps color them the bloom color), and then start playing with placement. Use photos of gardens you like to help. Use repetition, either clumps of the same plants or a 'stream' of the same kind, or swaths of the same. This will give each kind of perennial more visibility and give the garden cohesion. IME the learning curve on a computer design program can be pretty steep and will have a limited plant palette, and for what you want, the old-fashioned way will work just as well. Check out books by Tracy DiSabato-Aust such as The Mixed Perennial Border to help you.

Enjoy the process - as someone else said recently, if you don't like how it turned out, you can always move things around.

I second NHBabs' suggestion of looking at lots and lots of pictures. Find a local public library branch that has a good sized collection of gardening books. All winter long, November to March, check out a half dozen at a time and just flip through them, and plan what you want to do in the spring.

Babs and Arlene - I sincerely appreciate your thoughts. I'm looking at a meadow style (informal look) and the size will be approx 160'L x 33'W. Think of a boomerang for the shape with the 80' mark being at the top part of the boomerang. I already have done the 1" = "X" block diagram thing.

This planting bed is one that I'll be starting on soon....not waiting until next spring. I have already been perusing local stores that have perennials at closeout prices and have already purchased about 20 plants that I know will work well here.

I've looked at so many online images that my head spins. The problem with the images is that they don't name the plants as well as not finding images specific to zone 3 plantings. If you have any websites in mind for this please send them along.

One again, I thank you for your input!

I live in Zone 3

I suggest that you look closely and often at your plot and decide where you want the bones of the garden to be. By bones I mean hardscape trees and shrubs. Plants can be easily moved but the bones can't. It might also help to do a scale drawing on graph paper So you can sit inside and move things around until you get a combination that pleases your eye.

With a garden that big you are going to want paths so decide where they will be. Maybe you'll decide you want garden rooms. You might want a path leading to a garden bench under a tree with shade plants all around. You might want one that leads to a fountain or one that leads to a butterfly garden. There are so many themes you could use but the first step is deciding where the hardscape and paths go. After that the planting will come easy

Planning a bed takes a bit of thought. I did this for part of the winter into spring when I decided to put a new flower bed on my front lawn. I saw lots of photos both on line and in books but in the end my bed does not resemble any of them and I'm pleased with it.

Don't try to fill the whole bed with perennials all at once. Those small plants you buy will spread out and it will be too crowded. Fill in with annuals or mulch until they grow. You might want to sprinkle a few Calendula seeds around on top of the ground this fall They are an annual but will grow in spring and give you a little color and help fill the space between your perennials. Actually they will drop seeds in fall and you'll have them in the bed until you decide you don't want them and pull them all. Also look into native plants

I wish you luck

I guess I am unclear about what you want us to do. I suggested photos so you could think about what you like as far as kind of plant arrangement, kinds of flowers (not so much specific names, but more styles), and thoughts about foliage. For instance do you like Daisy shaped flowers or tall spires like ironweed or roses or big fluffy heads like Annabelle hydrangea or all of the above? Are you someone who only is interested in flowers, or are you wanting a garden that looks good when little is blooming? Do you want winter interest since your winter must be long, or do you not see this garden from the house? Do you like foliage with colors other than green? Have you done a web search for photos of Piet Oudolf's gardens and is that what you mean by a meadow? How do you feel about grasses?

I honestly couldn't design a garden for someone long distance, and we haven't seen the site or examples of what you like. We don't know the growing conditions other than zone (moisture, soil texture and pH, sun conditions), so it's a bit difficult to make constructive suggestions. I think what often happens on this site is that once we know the growing conditions, we can suggest plants, and then you can choose what you like and arrange them.

Just some general thoughts, though.

- "I already have done the 1" = "X" block diagram thing." What have you done with it? I suggested that you also make circles symbolizing the plants that interest you and slide them around to find an arrangement you like. Once we know what types of plants you are looking for, then you can do the arrangement in a way that is pleasing to you. If you haven't checked out the book I mentioned in my first post, Tracy DiSabato-Aust such as The Mixed Perennial Border, it will be helpful to you in design and information about maintenance.

- With a garden that large, mulch will be your friend while plants fill in. I usually put down cardboard or several layers of newspapers and then cover with mulch. I find this easier to do before planting, and then when it's time to plant I pull the mulch aside, cut the cardboard, and put in the plants.

- Have you done any soil prep? What is there already - lawn grass, rough field grass, weeds, bare dirt, etc.? If you haven't prepped the whole garden area, you probably just want to put your plants in a holding bed while you do prep. For me to prep the area for a ~70' x ~15' bed that had been already cleared, it took me a couple of weekends using a tractor to move composted manure, rake it out, loosen the subsoil left by the bulldozer, and mulch. It is a whole lot easier IME to prep the entire bed, or at the very least a section of the entire bed, rather than trying to do prep as you plant. The quality of the soil will really determine the success of this garden.

- Have you though about access to the garden for maintenance? I imagine you will need paths of some type in the garden so you can remove weeds or invasives, cut back dead stems and foliage in the fall or early spring, etc.

- Is there water available if you have dry spell? New planting will need watering until plants are established.

Once we have some idea of what you like and growing conditions, you may get more suggestions.

i am a visual sort of guy ..

wouldnt it be simpler to show us some pix of the actual spot ...

seems it would reduce confusion ...

ken

I didn't mean to confuse anyone. What I was hoping to find I have found here......somebody that would help me via email and phone with a design.

Thanks again for everybody's input and I'll post pictures and details once the bed is completed for this growing season.

And before I forget...the width of the planting bed will be 14'...not 30'. I don't know what I was thinking when I said 30'.

babs.....you put so much time into your post I will address your questions where I can:

For instance do you like Daisy shaped flowers or tall spires like ironweed or roses or big fluffy heads like Annabelle hydrangea or all of the above?

All of the above. It will be a butterfly (bflys) garden and I'm not concerned about flower shape. The correct placement for their size is important.

Are you someone who only is interested in flowers, or are you wanting a garden that looks good when little is blooming?

Varied, season long blooming is important for bflys. 75% perennial and 25% shrubs is my thought at this time.

Do you want winter interest since your winter must be long, or do you not see this garden from the house? Do you like foliage with colors other than green?

Winter interest = yes. Garden is on mainly the side of the house. About 1/3 will be viewed from house. Other colors? = yes.

Have you done a web search for photos of Piet Oudolf's gardens and is that what you mean by a meadow? How do you feel about grasses?

PO meadow = yes. The bed will be a bit more "formal" than a meadow (if this makes sense) . LOVE grasses! Especially miscanthus (sp?) for winter effect.

We don't know the growing conditions other than zone (moisture, soil texture and pH, sun conditions),

soil texture = 4-8" of topsoil over "beach sand" subsurface. VERY well drained. Full sun. PH = 5.9 (tested early summer) but are liming to bring it up.

With a garden that large, mulch will be your friend while plants fill in. I usually put down cardboard or several layers of newspapers and then cover with mulch. I find this easier to do before planting, and then when it's time to plant I pull the mulch aside, cut the cardboard, and put in the plants.

I love the cardboard/paper idea! The site as it sits today is all lawn grass. I was going to mark out the exact area and then use grass killer to kill the grass. Wait the proper amount of time before recommended replanting then put 4" of mulch down. Then plant

FYI - if you recall I said "think of the shape of a boomerang" when you envision the bed. This season I'm going to work on the LH leg of the boomerang. This will be 80' L x 14' W.

Have you though about access to the garden for maintenance? I imagine you will need paths of some type in the garden so you can remove weeds or invasives, cut back dead stems and foliage in the fall or early spring, etc.

Yes there will be paths

Is there water available if you have dry spell? New planting will need watering until plants are established.

Water is really the least of my worries! :) We have a well with a constant pressure pump. We have a "pump and dump" geothermal heating and cooling system and in summer when the AC is on, the geo water can be (almost always is) diverted to the outside to be used for watering the lawn and existing beds.

Hope this all helps.