This sounds like a job for a professional who can come to your property, see the environmental conditions, check the soil and drainage, and be given a property plat to work with.

An experienced landscape designer could do wonders for you. If you are looking for a cheaper way, you could see if there is a two or four year horticulture program nearby with a landscape design course.

I taught such a class for a few years; I always had to search for hands-on student projects. We did many fundamental designs for homeowners, but our fully complete jobs were for community projects....schools, museums, city buildings, churches, and the like.

You might see if there's a gardening coach in your area, or a gardening consultant. Truly, you have lots of opportunities for some hands-on assistance.

Awesome suggestions rhizo_1, thanks! I've always thought this property could be a good learning experience, at least for remediating overgrown forgotten gardens - It's like the Secret Garden here sometimes, the peonies were under a pile of brush I walked past for two years! Just this week an older neighbor mentioned an orchard - maybe I'll find something survived decades of encroaching forest and invasives. :)

It's a neat historic farm, late 1600s, men of the family responded to the alarm that started the Revolutionary War, etc. I like to think that the lilacs along the stone walls were planted by the original family; lilacs were very popular in the colonies in the 18th century. It would be fun to try to recreate some historic plants here... But that's a project for another year!

Any tips on key things to mention when communicating with schools? 'hands-on student project' seems like a good "buzzword"

Random thoughts:

Both peonies and daylilies are often planted with daffodils or other bulbs to hide old foliage since they are emerging as the daffs start to go by. I've learned not to plant daffodils at the front of a bed since otherwise I have dead foliage visible for quite a while.

4' seems really narrow. I have no beds less than 6' deep, and most are 8'-15' deep, depending on the setting. I like the added depth because it gives me room for multiple layers so there is always something of interest going on.

In New England, about half the year isn't growing season. Do you want winter interest or is a bare bed fine in the winter? Almost all of my beds have something for winter interest, such as conifers; or broadleafed evergreens like rhododendrons, Mt. Laurel or Leucathoe; or trees or shrubs with interesting winter branches, either color or structure, such as red-twigged dogwoods, Pagoda dogwood, or perhaps Japanese maples or moosewood maples in your area. Evergreen groundcovers are nice in the time period between frost and snow.

A photo is worth 10,000 words if you want design help.

Do you know that there is also a relatively active New England forum? If you add photos and ask questions there you might get additional responses. There is also a plant swap planned for a few weeks from now if that is of interest. And you may get ideas from looking at the "show us your garden" threads which are for every month, year round, for the last 5 or more years. Or fromthis thread on design which gives you places to find ideas (or where not to.) Or send me a message (click on my name and look for the Message button) if you want to visit.

A curse of pox upon Houzz and the difficulty it creates in finding forums and even my own darn threads! Endlessly frustrating.

Moving on... Thank you NHBabs for the additional ideas! Sounds like the peonies and daylilies are the way to go with what I have on hand, so at least there will be SOMETHING there instead of a weed convention!

For the bed in question, current plan is to forgo winter interest, and if possible minimise above-ground presence in the snowy season... proximity to the driveway introduces risk of snowbank habitation.

The existing 4' width was likely to enable easy access for weeding, etc - not that any has been done the last several decades! I'm the only "spry young whippersnapper" on the property, so I'm hoping maybe once the bed is (re)established, the creaky jointed around here might pitch in so I can dedicate time to bigger projects.

Was considering mirroring the existing bed and leaving a central access path down the middle, potentially creating the illusion of 8'+ of depth... ?

Off to hunt down the forums you mentioned, research daylily and peony spacing and transplanting best practices, and maybe even go play in the dirt!

It's been long enough that I can no longer edit my original post. You can click on the green link to take you directly to the post on design, though it may not help since you want no winter presence.

Here is a direct link to the New England forum and a direct link to a list of all the forums. To find your own posts, click on Your Houzz in the upper right corner and then there should be a list of Your Updates. Or if you click on Activity in the links at the top of the page, one of the options in the links at the left is Posts you Started.

With regard to weeds, edging, mulch and dense plantings will be your friend. Mulch all areas of bare soil when you plant, and plant close enough together that when the plants reach full size, there won't be space between them. You will need to replace the mulch every couple of years until the plants fill in. Edge the beds either with a deep V cut or with a buried strip of edging at least 4"-6" deep to deep out grass. At least once every week or two, take a wander through the garden and pull out all weeds so they can't get big (more difficult to remove) or go to seed and make a new generation of weeds.