Charles Rennie Mackintosh

As the first columnist among several who will be writing in this space, I've been elected to explain what this "Material World" thing is all about.  I agree with the editors that it does require some explaining - but not much.   The thought is that we in the landshaping business, designers and installer alike, seldom use a single material all on its own.  Even a huge, monolithic concrete deck outside a grand office building will have ribbons of stone or brick to break up the monotony. The aim of this and subsequent articles - whoever writes them - is to discuss the process we go through in selecting plant and/or hardscape material combinations that ultimately work together to become beautiful and seemingly effortless explorations of style, texture and color.  In other words, we'll be looking at projects for which all the