As I walked around Hix Small Cemetery, I saw flashes of red that were not that of wintergreen berries. I stopped and focused on the mossy area around some of the grave stones and found thin strips of red showing through the split shells of Northern Red Oak acorns.
In all the years we have lived here, and on all the walks we have taken, this was the first time we have seen acorns germinating. How we have missed this, I don't know. Maybe it is because of my wobbliness that I now have to focus on the ground as I walk and I am seeing much more than ever before. Here is an acorn that is showing the beginnings of a root and a shoot. Northern Red Oak acorns require the cold temperatures of winter before they will sprout, and they sprout in springtime (vs White Oak acorns that sprout as soon as they hit the ground in autumn.) We will monitor the germination over the next several weeks.
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