California trees in Washington

A bit over 2 years ago my husband (then boyfriend) and I went on an amazing road trip from our icy, snow-gripped mountain home to the southern deserts. We went through states that I had never been to previously - Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon.

The destination was Vegas, to celebrate my husband's youngest step-sister's 21st birthday. But the destination paled (especially for my rural woodsy taste) compared to the wild marvels we visited. We went to Zion National Park, and viewed an icy, desolate, barren, empty, park that few others see. We went to Yosemite and stayed in an incredible lodge nestled amongst huge old trees. We drove up the windy California coast and played on the beach in bare feet and t-shirts, after being in down jackets just that morning up in the mountains.

We brought back many intangible things -  lots of memories, inside jokes, and the surety that we could live with each other, but we also brought back 2 pine cones. One from a Sugar Pine, and the other from another California pine species that I have since forgotten.

I randomly planted seeds that I pulled from those cones, planted them in amongst my kitchen herb pots, in houseplant pots, in herb planters on the sunporch. And 2 years later, we have 3 little trees. 2 of one species, and one of the other. After many many months sharing space with other plants, we decided they needed to be repotted and separated.

2 pine seedlings & a straggly rosemary sharing space

Some day we hope to be able to plant these somewhere on the property, but in the interim, they will grow strong and tall on the sunporch in their planters.

a 3-stemmed pine seedling