professional development

Landscaping’s Place
Like most everything in life, "Natural Companions" has evolved through the years. When I first started writing this column in 1999, I focused primarily on topics related to combining plants and watershapes and wrote a lot about surrounding hard structures with greenery in sensible and sustainable ways.  As the New Year approaches, I've been thinking about how things have changed with the column and where it's now heading.   I distinctly recall having the sense about four years ago that
Facing the Future
Robert Frost once wrote, "I took the road less traveled and that has made all the difference." As we approach the New Year, I can't think of a more fitting theme for the watershaping industry.  If we consider where we were just ten years ago and compare that situation to the world in which we live and work today, it's clear that the industry as a whole has changed immeasurably - and, I think, for the good. I can say further and without fear of contradiction that those who have embraced the "road less traveled" and faced the future with creativity, hope and optimism have flourished, while those who have clung to the paradigms of the past are not so well positioned to