Out of the Weeds

Starting a new flower garden can be intimidating. Normally you're spending a good deal of time and money on the project and want to make sure you get something wonderful out of it. We recently added a new garden to our house and here's some of the resources we used to make sure we'll get the results we are looking for.

Basics
Flower Gardening Made Easy
A nice overview of what to keep in mind when designing your garden. If you're new to garden design this will give you a look into the different topics you'll want to keep in mind as you start your garden.

The Flower Expert: Designing a Flower Garden
A more encyclopedic look at garden design. It briefly touches on several factors that are important to a successful garden. A great resource if you're new to the various aspects of gardens.

Comprehensive Overviews
Cornell University: Flower Garden Design Basics
Probably the most comprehensive resource I found. It's a very good article focused on the "aesthetic consequences" of different garden layouts and covers most of the important topics in garden design. It also has several sample gardens and links to more detailed discussions of many of the topics it discusses.

Suite101: Flower Garden Design Series
Talks about several of the important things you'll need to keep in mind when creating your garden, as well as providing many links to more detailed articles about specific topics.

Samples
My Garden Plans: Gardens
A site where people can upload pictures of their gardens. It can help you get a feel for what some different options are that you could consider.

Flickr: Flower Garden Photos
Great for a quick skim to find color / height combinations that interest you as well as see many different types of flowers.

Hopefully these resources will give you the confidence and information to help you design the garden of your dreams.

Where do you all get your ideas for your garden from?