I just bought my first house, and I have no idea where to begin in planting and designing a flower garden. If it helps I live in Virginia where it's a little warmer.

First take in an overall look of where you would like to see plants take into account your space and the time involved for its maintenance.Being you never gardened before you need to look into low maintenance plants would invest in all seasons bulbs so all year through you can have beauty.How much can you afford or how much do you really want to spend ? There is also a soil check to make sure what you invest in will grow good in your soil some plants do not do well if not grown in a soil with maybe too much lime .So you need to take that into consideration also.Maybe you want mulch or rocks .Is there anything planted now that you would like to keep?perennials are great they come back every year and bigger so take spacing into consideration too.The success of a outstanding garden is to place high plants to the back shorter ones in the front this will create a dramatic effect also look for color schemes pinks with purples look great together use your imagine look in magazines to get ideas look around your neighborhood too I could stay here all day with ideas I LOVE to garden and i love plants congratulations on your new home Hope i helped out a little bit . I am also from VA.In dollar tree they have annual seed packets 10 for a dollar you can also get boxes of wildflower seeds for a buck it has over one hundred seeds if you like wild flowers but in some boxes you will get seeds that come back .Start taking a study of where you want to start your garden so you can watch the sun or shade this will also help okay one more thing how is your drainage some plants will adapt and some wont Remember when you have some ideas draw a plan on paper so you can remember your ideas much luck to you again when you are finished and and your garden takes shape pat yourself on the back gardening also is a great stress relief