Gardening by Osmosis

Our place on the planet is often referred to as, The Inland northwest, east of the Cascades or High Desert.

Ponderosaville seems more conclusive for me. The raw charm of the Ponderosa ignites a connection with all that is free, firm and almost haughty. The grandeur of a mature specimen is reverent to me.

Ponderosa pines grow in hostile, seemingly improbable areas where rock and shallow soils occur. Yet its determined tendrils find fissures and fragments of life giving soil to establish their tenacious roots.

Unlike the fir’s graceful swooping branches, the ponderosa’s structural design appears...