I'm no master gardener by any means (actually only been doing this for 3 years! lol) but I would think the "big" picture is probably more important to begin with. The smaller picture (plant choices, foilage choices, etc) can be moved around quite some bit to get the "bigger" picture looking beautiful.
Anyone else have an opinion?

I think for most of us who work on building a garden over a time period of years, the practical reality is you work on both. I can't imagine having the patience to put a bed or two in place but leave them empty while you are figuring out where the rest of them should go or what their ultimate shape will be. The large trees take years to get to anything close to a mature size. I treat it all as being in a state of flux. Beds will change shape as the garden develops; sun beds may become shade beds as trees mature; plants will get added, moved or removed altogether as conditions change or our tastes and life plans change. If we lost some of the mature or near-mature trees that are the backbone of the garden, we would have to substantially rethink the overall garden but it wouldn't be a disaster because I've anticipated that that will happen at some poit and built that scenario into the current garden (by, for instance, planting young trees that might mitigate the loss of shade from the mature trees.) Because I'm not aiming for a 'finished' garden, I'm content to shape an evolving one. If I reached the point where there's nothing to change, it would be time to sell this property and find a new place to start over! So I don't have - and don't want - a 'complete package' because, for me that sort of implies something static and I want the garden to change! I do try to keep all those general design principles and planting design principles in mind as I work but at any one point in time some of them may appear to be in less than ideal balance or missing. But I don't worry too much because the current garden on the ground is just a step along a long road that will continue as long as I am gardening here. Unless you're working to a short time horizon because you plan on moving/selling in the foreseable future, my advice is 'don't sweat the small stuff' and think long term.

I think you have to consider both, but definitely the overall plan, layout, hardscape, and other features need to be in place before you start plant selection. However, if you know that you want to include certain plants, you'll keep their cultural requirements, form, etc. in mind during the planning, too.

Decide how you want to use the space, divide it up into functional areas (dining/entertaining, play space for kids, veggie garden, utility area for compost pile, etc. if needed, and space for beds you can putter in, if that's your thing. Think about whether you need shade trees, hardscaping, screening, and locate those first, as their selection and location are dictated by the function they will perform. Then add whatever is needed to visually balance the design and unify it, add interest, in the form of color, texture, fragrance, special features like a pergola or water feature, whatever you want/need.

Stop and think about what is "big picture" a little more. Using contrasting foliage can be big picture as much as it can be detail if it is the concept rather than the plant list. Having a general idea of what you might like in your "vignettes" can be a big picture if you are not starting by digging holes for those plants.

Everyone has some detailed oriented things that s/he wants to incorporate into a "big picture", but they are in the form of general concept at the beginning which makes them "general" rather than "specific". This is still "big picture".

When you have an idea that you want to have a big bed with lots of hydrangeas and roses along the side of your garage, it is a concept until you work it down to how many of these, how many of those, and exactly where are they going to go.

If you love South Bay quartzite irregular stepping stones in a lawn it is a "general" until you start figuring exactly how it will fit into your plan.

Deciding to use trees for framing is much more of a detail than the concept that drives you to decide that you need to frame. It is more "general" than choosing and placing the actual tree.

Concepts are details and details are concepts depending how, when, and to what extent you are applying them.

I'm not sure if these will make any sense when read by someone else, but I figured I'd try to share it. These things are really hard to communicate.

It sounds like what differentiates the details from the big picture is not physical scope but degree of importance. A statue could be the last thing obtained to be placed into a landscape, or a landscape could be designed around that same statue. It's a matter of priorities and making sure you are clearly defining what will be the driving force behind the design.

In the city of Ottawa, the National Capital Commission (NCC) commissioned a study based on the protection of the silhouette of the Peace Tower and its visibility from select vantage points. Sounds like a very particular detail, but the importance of that iconic view was designated to be very high. As such, those specific views have determined the building height restrictions throughout the entire downtown core. May be a detail to some (maybe even a trivial one), but to others, it is very much part of the big picture of the form of downtown Ottawa and also a part of the image of Canada.

- Audric

I agree it is some of both.

Ideally hardscape and big decisions come first because of the pain and cost of moving later and because these will "drive" future decisions. You put in your swimming pool first before you end up planting trees where it will go.

In reality we are not always linear thinkers or actors, and especially garden enjoyment may actually REQUIRE we spend time on creating some fun foliage vignettes, plant some tomatoes in a random spot that may eventually be a pathway, buy a random statue because we like looking at it.

Plus, actual work done is not all linear but is parallel--if you are hiring someone to install this or that, you may still be putting in your flower bed or whatever. Or time and energy comes in different allotments suitable for different projects.

One thing that's important is to be honest with yourself, if you can. I'm terrible at getting help with planting trees, putting in hardscape, etc and so tend to do small things instead of that. So some of my small things are good small things that belong in the evolving plan and have huge payoffs in function or enjoyment, and some are procrastination projects--like sharpening pencils (if anyone actually does that) instead of starting the big office project.

So you want to try to avoid convincing yourself that a small project is more important than it is, and see if you can see what are the barriers to having the landscape or garden you really want.

For me, in addition to sensing much of what others have said, for me my landscape is an outcome of the process of solving one problem or another throughout the yard. My problems have included physical ones like accommodating changes in elevation, aesthetic ones like an ugly sidewalk, and functional ones like accommodating what I want to be able to do in a given space, which include growing an excessive number of plants, being able to sit down near the front gate to yak with passers-by, and so on.

So my landscape is a result, not a goal. In that sense I apply myself to details first, with the big picture being an outcome. However, some of the problems I have to solve include view lines, making shade, etc and so they are one of the problems I tackle. Then it is all a question of sequencing the projects.

KarinL

Plan, construct, plant the winter garden first. This provides the 'bones' for all the details to follow.

I sense a bit of cheating there isabel, you have been around long enough to have read this topic before where it was labeled big picture vs details or broad strokes verses detail. You now want large details and fine details set against one another, bad girl.

"what differentiates the details from the big picture is not physical scope but degree of importance"

In other words, you will eventually have to decide this for yourself the priority is yours to decide.

Take the 'grow for victory' slogan that motivated people to grow vegetables as an example of a priority, this could just as easily be 'grow for colour' or 'grow for kids to wreck' or ....If you have the gardeners urge to grow stuff, make the conditions suitable for that and blow a couple of dollars on some seed. The big picture is that the earth will continue its rotation anyway.