Bed design/planning software

[MissPettigrewIsWFH]

I have 2 new beds, 5 x 3m, and I'm keen to plan them properly. I'd really like to find a (ideally free!) online tool that I can use to plan the planting in the beds so that I can see the relative heights, how many plants I need to fill a certain space etc. I can find lots of tools to help with landscaping etc, but am struggling for ideas on planting. Any tips?

I just did a quick google and found one called omnicalculator.com that has a planting plan calculator that works that sort of thing out re spacing. Maybe try that one?

The only thing is of course that your own soil, microclimate, aspect and personal preferences would make a big difference. What a lot of people do is to plan the major structure of larger shrubs, climbers and small trees, and then whilst waiting for them to fill out and use their allocated space, they fill in the gaps with short-lived perennials and hardy annuals etc. Those can then be thinned out or moved as necessary.

I'm quite jealous actually, it has been a long time since I had a blank canvas space to design. Do you have a particular theme in mind - aka the White Garden at Sissinghurst, a gravel garden, cool & shady, Mediterranean, cottage garden, formal with topiary, roses?

I would just do it with pen and paper. Draw it out to scale. You can get a stencil with different sized circles on them, which you can use to map out your plants with the correct spacing. The crocus website is the most reliable for average plant spacing. Then for your elevation image, again just do some quick sketches to scale with a rough shape for the plant - columnar, triangle, seedhead, etc. It should give you a good idea.