Have you ever wondered how a great redwood can bring water from its roots to its leaves? It can seem like a simple process for a small shrub or food crop, but the uptake and transport of water that defies gravity is a feat of natural engineering.

It’s one thing to think about the cycle of life in terms of seasons. In northern climates, winter is a time of snow cover and cold. A few plants have specialized to live in these climates, but most begin life in the spring or summer and die (or go dormant) in the autumn. In this article, we answer how that works and dive into the life cycle of a plant.