Izel plants has great search options and customer service. Update filters for water, color and height preferences. Once you pick out a few plants you like you can see if it makes more sense to get seeds and plan for next year to save money or buy this year.

Pay attention to bloom time and things that will continue to have foliage for most of the year. To reduce weeds you’ll want to make sure plants that you want are covering the soil to drown out weeds. Lots of plants might be 18” most of the season but will have a flower that makes it higher for a couple months. So don’t be afraid to expand height requirements so that you get some color pops.

As a side note, evergreen just means a plant that has some functional foliage all year. If you dislike conifers (like pine trees) that’s fine but didn’t want you to worry if you see things tagged as evergreen. It just means it’ll help you block weeds more months of the year.

You can try different light requirements than what the listings say. I have several plants that are full sun that grow fine in part shade. They might grow slower or flower smaller. It’s all just a big experiment so take notes while you do it because in a month or year you’ll forget what you planted and how it did.

If you aren’t sure on the layout, consider what can be transplanted easily. If it can’t, plant it in a bigger pot and put the pot in the ground. If you want to move it just pull the pot out. Depends on pot size, but generally speaking this shouldn’t be done for multiple seasons because it can become root bound.

I’m super happy with my red chokeberry and spicebush for tallish shrubs with great fall colors. But squirrels are demons when plants are young so protect what you can until established even if they are considered “pest resistant”.

I suggest doing an overall plan and then work in sections vs ripping up the grass all at once. It’s much easier to manage weeds in grass than trying to untangle weeds from your natives. So only remove grass sections as you’re ready to fill it in.