Jim Nicodemus wasn't trying to create a winter postcard 25 years ago, but a pastoral scene with long rows of Eastern white pine trees was the result of his efforts.

In the 1980s, he planted 2,000 seedlings in rows on 4 acres of hills behind his house in West Sunbury, Butler County. The trees, which now stand more than 30 feet tall, have been thinned over the years.

Mr. Nicodemus, a retired shop teacher from the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School, used the lumber to build a country kitchen with fire pit near the house.

He and his wife JoAnn were finalists in this year's Great Gardens Contest, which is where the Post-Gazette first caught sight of this country winter scene that anyone would pine for.