Before you decide what to plant, you need to first plan the major paths through your yard. These define circulation in your yard, linking major areas. Rather than just existing as gaps left over from the garden beds, your paths can create a well-functioning space.
When planning out these pathways, don’t try to draw in your plants yet. Just start by sketching in major features: the location of your house, gates, entry points, patios, fences, sheds, and so on. You can also include any existing trees and property lines or other permanent features. Once these are in, start sketching lines from one feature to the other where you think people will naturally want to go. Don’t worry about making your lines aesthetically perfect. It will probably help to draw more than one route between major points to better understand how you use your yard.
You’ll also want to consider your layout from more than a bird’s-eye view. Get out in your yard and try to visualize walking down your paths, looking at your major views, carrying items from the shed, and making trips to your seating area. These are all actions that will help you better understand whether your layout will be successful.
Once you feel like your paths are complete, start considering what you can see from the paths and from the major viewpoints. How do the paths section off the yard into lawn, planting, paved, and seating areas? Do you need any wider paths so that you’ll be able to comfortably do gardening tasks like pruning, replacing plants, and so on? Remember that a path needs to not only be wide enough to walk down, but wide enough to do work from.
The sizes of your paths will determine how intimate or private you want your spaces to be. Do you like feeling enclosed by plants, with paths on the smaller side? If so, you’ll need to keep in mind the mature size of shrubs and make sure they won’t grow into your path. On the other hand, if you like feeling open, with long vistas and sweeping lawns, then keep plantings lower to the ground or consider wider beds that keep the paths feeling open.
Once you’ve got your major paths sketched out, then it’s time to start filling in the blank spaces with plantings. It’ll be easier to figure out your garden beds now, because the edges of the paths will give you a starting point. With your major paths determined, there won’t be any major plantings without direct access, meaning you won’t have to walk through a flower bed just to get to the hydrangea that needs watering.