Winter Rest - Plants

Plants

Deciduous trees lose their foliage in the winter. Tree growth rings are a result of winter rest, as there is rapid growth in the warmer spring, then slower growth later in the year.

Perennial and biennial herbaceous plants lose their frost-sensitive, above-ground parts before the winter, and regrow in the spring. Herbaceous plants that are annual, producing seeds before the winter, can also be considered to have winter rest in some form, because their seeds may stay inactive over the winter before germinating. Annual plants which have seeds that germinate before winter also have winter rest.Winter cereals, for example, which are sown in the fall and germinate before the frost, become dormant during the winter and actually require a few weeks of cold before they are able to flower.