I came of age in the Orioles’ glory days. Like many kids back then, I cut lawns for neighbors to earn a few dollars. By the time I was sixteen, I was working at a country club, where I received a chance to work both on a golf course grounds crew and an after-hours landscape crew. Each was an important learning experience.
Over the years I have worked for companies large and small. The greatest lessons of my career were working at two of the top-rated commercial and residential companies in Maryland. With each advancing position I held, I eagerly learned more and ever-broadening elements of what it took to create and keep a great garden environment: woody plants, perennials, stone, water, wood, earth, light, drainage, a trained crew, and most importantly the ability to unite them all into a design that would inspire the most discerning owner. Ultimately I found validation for the knowledge I had amassed when I received landscape design awards at both the local and national level. Then I knew I was ready to work as my own entity. In 2003 I started Matt Williams…Naturally, Inc. I am happy to say since then we’ve done a lot to bring a unique beauty to many people’s surroundings.
I’ve come to believe that a garden design, being a whole greater than the sum of its parts, creates its own music, has its own song. When you walk through a new garden you feel its particular sense of space; I contend that you can also hear its own unique song. When I feel the space of one of our completed gardens I can hear it sing. It’s when the music is calm and uniquely contemplative that I feel at peace. Therefore it’s our goal at MWN that for each project we pursue, the environments we create for our client sings a song in concert with their goals, and in unison with their vision.
