ponderosa pine no. 46

Pinus ponderosa

Height 32" Width 34"

Few trees have the contortion and fantastical unpredictability of Ponderosa Pine. The intertwining marriage of living veins and deadwood tells a fantastical story of a life spent in the harsh environment of the Rocky Mountains exercising the dogged determination to survive. The rugged bark, thick and plated like armor, preserves the delicate transport of water and sugars against intense sunlight, blowing sand and ice, and the constant threat of organisms trying to take the very sustenance these trees need to simply survive. It's a brutal existence, but one that represent the juxtaposition of soulful calm and beauty of life in the alpine environment with its shadow side of extreme conditions. One look at this pine is like reading two hundred years of history about the landscape it came from.