From a Dead Juniper, Life

When Desiree first arrived here in Montana three months ago, the deciduous trees remained bare, the grass was only slightly green and flowers had not yet emerged from overwintering in the ground.

Having never experienced the four seasons, she expressed a fair level of skepticism about anything coming back to life.  As spring gradually imprinted an array of greens and vivid colors back into our landscape, she found herself impressed.  Before long, she initiated a series of planting, replanting, and seeding projects.  She fussed with dozens of landscaping features around our house and orchestrated the addition of several more houseplants.

Something over a week ago, Desiree enlisted my help in another plant-related project. Having seen how beautiful a dead standing juniper can be if stripped of bark and sanded down, she wanted to make a juniper plant stand. 

Desiree spent the better part of a week sanding and finishing a long-dead juniper we lifted from the hillside just below our house.  I helped her fasten the juniper to a slab of Russian olive I had remaining from a previous cabin project.  Yesterday, we affixed platforms for holding plants to the juniper.

I have posted pictures of our finished product.  It’s pretty good stuff!

Our Plant Stand  

—Mitchell Hegman