2013 I got my first garden and I had no idea where to begin. So I picked up a few books on garden design with good reviews, they were:

->Small Garden, John Brookes Big Plans Small Gardens, Andy Sturgeon Small Garden, John Brookes All About Creating Japanese Gardens, Alvin Horton<-

  1. Small Garden, John Brookes
  2. Big Plans Small Gardens, Andy Sturgeon
  3. The Garden Planner, Robin Williams
  4. All About Creating Japanese Gardens, Alvin Horton

The first 2 are great books to flick through a get ideas and inspiration. The Garden Planner focuses a lot on garden layout, all ideas are communicated well with floorplans and sketches of how it might look. All About Creating Japanese Gardens is as you might guess very specific in its styling, and includes good pictures and ideas.

As a first set of garden design books very happy with these, although drop the last one if your not interested in Japanese gardens.

Just in case I have messed up the links: