the answer is YES ... lol ...

buy anything in spring that strikes you ...

buy mature.. buy small.. buy.. buy.. buy ...

and try visiting the winter sowing forum... on how to start them NOW ... if you can find seed ...

think of your garden as a collection ... you must collect something.. increasing your collection .... is simply what you can get your hands on ... and the wish list grows forever... lol

think about joining a local garden club... many experienced gardeners... are ALWAYS looking for suckers to give away plants ... as they 'work' their own beds ... i have filled the trunks of many a garden friend ...

and.. since we have you young [in garden terms, i think] .. start learning latin ... common names can become very problematic ...

ken

Latin won't be a problem, I will start learning proper names for each item rather than common name :)

I noticed that when i started looking up lilies and realized how many different scientific names there were for each cultivar

It depends on what you are looking for and how fast you want it to make an impact. I am of the 'instant gratification' school and don't have the patience or the facilities for growing from seed. And if you are looking for specific cultivars of many perennials, especially newer ones, they are just not available from seed. But lots of traditional garden perennials are easily grown from seed.

Plant sales are a great source but do your homework first. In many cases, the plants offered in abundance at garden club plant sales are there because they are just so darn prolific. They spread prolifically so frequently dug up and shared at these sales. Often, 'prolifically' can be translated to 'aggressively'.......IOW, these can be garden thugs - once planted, never rid of. Just saying......buyer beware!

btw, note the spelling - perennial.

Since you plan two very big borders, I would like to suggest that you visit the Winter Sowing forum and the Winter Sowing FAQ and learn to get a large number of plants the most economical way.

You can start collecting recyclable containers such as plastic milk jugs, cake containers, bulk salad containers and watch for seed offers on the Winter Sowing exchange forum and other exchange forums. Buy a few bags of good potting soil now and start sowing seeds in mid December.

You won't regret it.
Have fun gardening.

I'll add my voice to the suggestion of winter sowing if you have the opportunity. I designed, planned, and dug my garden beds in 2007. In 2009 I discovered winter sowing. I grew perennials & shrubs (from seed) and started planting out in 2010. My garden beds were filled in 2011. It's fast, inexpensive and just about the most garden fun you can have in winter.

I supplemented my winter sown perennials with a few nursery-grown plants that offered either color or textural contrasts. I've let go of biennials and prefer perennials that perform year after year so all I have to do is enjoy them.

The link below takes you to the home page of Wintersown.org. There's very little recent activity on the GardenWeb Winter Sowing forum.

Check out the GW Seed Exchange for seeds.

Buy a few bags of good potting soil now and start sowing seeds in mid December.

Oh, yeah. If you're serious about winter sowing, buy your growers mix NOW. Picture someone trying to thaw a frozen 3 cu. ft. bale of growers mix with a hair dryer.

And yes, botanical (Latin) plant names will help you avoid mistakes/confusion.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersown.org website