As well as light levels, you will want to know the size of the space and have a feel for your soil texture and tilth. Often digging up a yard leaves you with hard-packed subsoil at the surface, so this fall you might want to get a soil test done and have some compost delivered and tilled in to improve the nutrient and moisture capacity. Plants will grow better if some attention to the soil has happened before planting.

From your question, I am not sure what you are looking for - a design you can plant or someone to do the install as well? It will depend on what sort of a budget you have as well as your experience and comfort with doing the planting yourself. To be honest, a weedy lawn is probably the easiest care planting you can have as other plantings will needs at least some weeding (more until the plants fill in), renewal of mulch, and some trimming back. IME, flowering shrubs with just a few easy care perennials will be far easier than all perennials.

Many nurseries will do a free or inexensive plan if you buy your plants there, but the quality will vary depending on the training and experience of the person doing the planning. You could get a garden designer to do a plan - I know the Traceys from Avant Gardens in Dartmouth do design work, and since someone at one point posted a garden they created, I can say they do gorgeous work. You may find a garden coach will be enough to give you the advice you need.

Or you can post photos of the area in question and your goals beyond not having to mow - privacy? flowers? winter interest? You will want to have some idea of what you like that we (or a designer) could work from. Are you interested in trees or shrubs for flowers or foliage? Do you like the look of perennial grasses? So look at photos online (such as Houzz's listings for coastal plantings), or wander around nearby neighborhoods to see what appeals to you and take a photo or five of plants and arrangements you like, or get landscaping books from the library and find beds or photos of yards you like to give someone a feel for what appeals.

My goals are to give it some curb appeal that will be colorful, low maintenance, and look like it belongs to the area. I am generally there on weekends so I wouldn't be able to give them much attention after the first week or so when I will plant. It's such a tiny area, I don't think a designer would be interested in it. Flowering shrubs with some easy care perennials would probably be just right. I do like the look of perennial grasses but I don't know if they spread. I made the mistake of planting a small butterfly bush next to a hibiscus the first year I lived up north and the butterfly bush has spread out and taken over the whole space - I'll have to transplant the hibiscus. I was trying to get an idea of which things to plant where, especially for height and hardiness. I know the grasses can get tall, that there are various black-eyed susan varieties that grow to different heights, and day lilys that are varied height as well. I don't want to plant them wrong. It's Southeast facing, gets full sun most of the day, and is only about 400 sq ft of space. I appreciate the recommendations made here and will take your advice.

Can you post a photo of the space? I'd be happy to suggest plants and where to put them, but I would want to see the space so I know what is there as far as location of windows and doors, steps, pathways, and driveway, and access to things such as the side and back yards, the electric meter, etc. Are there currently any plants other than the sparse grass you mentioned above?

Plan on watering thoroughly and deeply at least once a week all fall if you plant this fall, and more often if it's really hot and dry. If you can't be there to do it, hire someone or place a sprinkler and have someone come by to turn it on for a few hours. Or wait until October or so to plant when it should be cool enough that plants will survive once per week watering. New plants need quite a bit more care than they will once they have settled in and grown good roots.

Before planting add compost and turn it in. If you can't do that, hire a couple of teenagers to do it. The garden will only grow as well as the soil can support it, and as I said above, you most likely have subsoil that's been compacted by the machinery that did the digging. After planting, mulch well with 3"-4" of shredded bark mulch. It's cheapest by the truckload as is the compost.

Yes. I'll send a photo when I'm down next on Sunday so I can be more specific about the area!

I was trying to save the first five feet closest to the house in case we wanted to put a porch there but that definitely will not happen this year. There are about 6 or 7 feet from each side of the house to the fence/border of the lot. Except for the four feet of stone and pavers walkway, there is an area of about 14 feet from the house to the street that I want to plant. The lot is 50 feet across the front. From the fourteen foot mark to the street -ten more feet- on the left (as you face the house) I will be using crushed stone to allow parking for two cars. On the right, the only consideration is the vent pipe over the septic. Since this is my first experience with a septic system, I've been told there are a number of plant types I cannot use. I was hoping to disguise the pipe behind something pretty. It looks so sad, doesn't it? Next year if the budget allows, we'll change the vinyl siding to cedar shingles so it will look more in keeping with the rest of the neighborhood. Thanks again for your ideas. Let me know if you need more measurements.

Growing in southern New England sandy loam + full sun I have: Fountain grass/Alopecuroides 'Hameln,' feather reed grass/Calamagrostis 'Karl Forester' ornamental grasses. My other grasses perform in some sun but can be overly enthusiastic.

Growing in mostly sun I have cushion spurge/Polychroma spurge euphorbia, Shasta daisy/Leucanthemum, beardtongue/Penstemon, lady's mantle/Alchemilla mollis, hummingbird mint/Agastache, blue mist shrub/Caryopteris, carnation/dianthus, hardy geranium/cranesbill, Spirea, Stokesia, black-eyed Susans, Phlox paniculata/tall garden phlox among others. All are no/low-maintenance.

My garden beds--full-sun, part-sun, part/mostly-shade--include lots of other perennials I'd be happy to share the names of but I considered you might want to get started with a few rather than an avalanche.

FYI - Other than the grasses, I grew most of them from seed via winter sowing.

Some of the catalogs, I'm pretty sure Bluestone does, have designs already pre-planned. Doesn't mean you have to buy plants from them, but it might be an interesting jumping-off point.

This was another great idea! It does have pre-planned designs and tells me "put this one here," which is just what I need. Thanks!

I like looking at these sorts of plans too. Some interesting ones are in Roy Diblik's books http://www.timberpress.com/blog/2014/05/the-know-maintenance-perennial-garden-one-gardeners-story/ and this English source http://www.crocus.co.uk/ready-made-borders-archive/ (not all the plants are hardy here) but it is fun to look at how people combine plants.

Thanks for the photos.

Generally, the order of doing things is first hardscape and then plants. So with that in mind, the first step I'd take would be the walk which currently is too narrow for comfort and needs to be solid and at least the width of the steps rather than single stepping stones to look friendly and welcoming. It can be just large sized concrete pavers placed touching side by side and front to back to make a solid walk or you can do a course of brick edging with an edge. Stepping stones like you have now are fine for within the garden, but the approach walk should be easy walking (so an 80 year-old grandmother can walk it comfortably.) I would run it out to the street and to where ever you leave your car.

I also wouldn't plant anything other than grass or a heavy layer of mulch (perhaps with an easy groundcover) within about 12 feet of the house if you are likely to be putting in a porch in the next couple of years since you need to leave room not only for the porch itself but also at least 5 or 6 feet for workers and equipment, and even then plants will be trampled.

No woody plants (shrubs or trees) over or near the edges of the septic, so do you know where the limits of the septic are?

You will want a limited palette of plants here so that it doesn't look too weedy or overgrown or require too much maintenance. I would also limit your flower colors to three or four besides green. To my mind most of Bluestone's gardens have a whole lot of different plants, with one or two of each, which will be more difficult to keep looking good. With many types, you will need to be deadheading and trimming a lot compared to a fewer number of varieties that bloom for longer times and don't look terrible at any point. Although I can't see the details of the plans in the Roy Diblik books, I can see repeats of plants in loose groupings, and in general I would suggest this style of planting.

Comments on gardenweed's plant list:

IME Euphorbia, black-eyed Susan, and tall garden Phlox seed around quite a bit if not deadheaded, so I would avoid them if you won't be around enough to deadhead. Many Phlox are susceptible to mildew, so be sure to get one that says it is mildew resistant if you use these such as 'David'.

I would be inclined to use the category of plants that never look terrible - there's a thread of those on the perennials forum that you might consider.

Here is a list of plants that I'd use in a garden that only gets visited on weekends. They all have nice foliage all season and several retain evergreen foliage all winter as well. They are tolerant of dry conditions, so if you can't water they should be OK without regular rain as long as the garden is well-mulched (which is needed for weed control anyway), thugh you may want to water once a month if really dry. The garden will still need some attention every weekend (think half an hour or less to pull weeds when small and cut off dead flowers), but I don't think will get out of control if you take that time each week. If you don't want to do that, plant lawn and hire someone to mow it for you since that is the easiest option. To allow access for maintenance, add stepping stone paths every 3'-4' across the garden.

Short plants for the edge of the walkway and along the road, planted in groups of three in triangles to give you good masses:

Veronica 'Georgia Blue' (Dark green foliage that picks up mahogany hues in winter and deep blue spring flowers)

Iberis 'Purity' (evergreen foliage and white spring flowers)

Dianthus 'Greystone' (white spring flowers with silvery-green foliage that remains in winter)

Sedum 'Angelina' (yellow-orange foliage and yellow flowers)

Medium plants to use in the space between the short and tall plants, groups of 3 or 5:

Campanula persicifolia - cultivars are various shades between white and medium blue-purple - late spring flowers into the summer, especially if deadheaded

Helenium 'Mardi gras' - orange and yellow flowers in July and August

Dark-leafed Penstemon such as 'Dark Towers' or 'Mystica' White or light violet flowers in spring

Echinacea purpurea/purple coneflower - pinky-purple daisies in summer

Siberian Iris - spring flowers in shades of blue or white

Tall plants (3'-4' for the back of the garden closest to the house and the edges of the property) All are large enough to plant as singles, though depending on the selection of those I've just given a genus of, some may be short enough to include in the middle height section:

Aster 'Lady in Black' reddish foliage and tiny white flowers

Aster x frikartii 'Monch' OR Aster laevis 'Blue Bird' or Aster 'October Skies'

Baptisia some of these are a bit smaller and so might go into the medium category - late spring flowers in white, blue, yellow or some are maroonish

Hydrangea paniculata 'Bobo' or 'Dharuma' (shrub with white flowers starting in July that slowly change to pink late summer into autumn)

Physocarpus 'Tiny Wine'/ninebark

Amsonia hubrichtii/Arkansas bluestar blue spring flowers with feathery foliage that turns gold in autumn

Caryopteris divericata 'Snow Fairy' Green and white variegated foliage with blue fall flowers

Perovskia atriplicifolia/Russian sage frost, fine-textured foliage and blue-purple flowers in summer

Tall garden Phlox - be sure to check that it's mildew resistant - flowers in August and into September if deadheaded

You mentioned putting in a new walkway. We actually put the gravel and pavers in just to take the curse off the appearance as well as reduce the raw dirt that came in as people came into the house. We were budgeting for one next year - do you think the planting should wait until after that or can I do some this year?

I wouldn't do any planting near where your walkway(s) will be. Whoever puts it in will be needing to move materials around and perhaps will use small equipment such as a Bobcat as well. Perhaps along the property line you can do a bit of planting, but I'd leave the rest of it alone since it's such a small yard.

For this fall to reduce dirt into the house and neaten things up, consider planting winter wheat or winter rye. It can be mowed if it grows too tall, will help reduce weeds, and can be turned in next spring to improve the organic content of the soil. Or get a couple of truckloads of mulch and spread it. It's easier to not let weeds get established.

I'd strongly recommend planting lawn grass this fall. It is too big an area to start out with as garden, so some of it should be lawn. If the grass ends up planted somewhere it gets dug up next year, it isn't that big a deal.