Deprived of Hillrise.

Hillrise is the life-giving rain to a dried up sapling like me. Yet there's a time that the calming rain must stop. I'm taken to a barren, dry desert full of harsh heat and humidity. There's many other saplings, but they have beautiful pastel flowers and are able to grow in this environment. Odd-looking lizards eye me, hungry for my sap.  I can barely survive or stay awake, since most of my roots were cut off. I'm about to dry up for good when I'm taken back to the rich, cool soil of Hillrise and once again soaking it up. Ahhh, the world feels right again and I'm growing better than ever. But the next day, I'm taken back to that desert with the lizards and pretty flowers. I dry up and all traces of growth are lost. Then after what seems like years, I'm finally back in the Hillrise soil where I belong. Yet for most of the week, I'm dug up (harshly) and forced into a hard, overheated planter worn down by generations of other plants. Those lizards can really scare me sometimes. I feel relieved when I'm not taken out of my perfectly soft Hillrise soil for a few days, yet on Monday that gardener comes back for me and I find myself in the desert. No one knows why we're taken to this desert; once upon a time it was a rather okay place, but years flew by and our beach has turned into a freak of nature.
What is the desert a metaphor for?
It's pretty obvious.
Here's a puzzle:
SPIDERS
THEY WILL CRAWL
THEY WILL SPIN
ONE AMAZING WEB
I GUARANTEE YOU
IT WILL BE AMAZING

There's a hidden word in here. There's one letter in each stanza. Here are the clues:
1. Letter that starts and ends the stanza
2. Third word, first letter
3. First word, second letter
4. First word, first letter
5. Third word, second letter
6. Second word, last letter
The letters will spell out what the desert metaphor is for.
Leave your answer in the comments!
Whitney