In Our Green Heart, The Soul and Science of Forests, Diana Beresford-Kroeger, scientist, oaks are extremely important.

“So, how do you plant an oak?

First, you find an acorn. During midsummer, start looking for healthy, mature oak trees wherever you live. Keep an eye on the tree and visit it as often as you can. Take note of the first mature acorn that land on the ground around the tree, but ignore them, because the first acorns to fall are often ones that have been aborted because of disease. Ignore, too, green acorns, which cannot be expected to grow because they’re not ripe. An acorn is ripe when it is born, or sometimes black; an oak’s acorns will ripen from August through December in the northern hemisphere.

Prior to planting, which you can also do from August through to December (as long as the ground isn’t frozen), remove the cup. The cup scar on a healthy acorn should be lemon-colored. Any that have been attacked by weevils or otherwise damaged will not grow. If you want to double-check, such duds float while their more sound, heavier counterparts will sink to the bottom of a bucket of water.

Place the healthy acorn on its side then cover it with a quarter to half inch of soil. Add a pinch of baking soda to de-scent the acorn, which protects it from predation by hungry squirrels. Mark the spot and cover it with a mulch of grass, straw or wood chips. Even layers of newspapers will do, or you can place rocks around the planting hole, leaving room for the tree to grow; you’re simply looking for anything to hand that will help hold moisture in the soil.

Like grains of wheat, acorns have no endosperm. Instead, the tree decided to direct its food services into two baby leaves, called cotyledons. After planting, it takes three to five weeks for the acorn to send up a good, strong green shoot from its tip. At the same time, an equally strong root plunges straight down into the soil.

A baby oak is one of the most beautiful plants to observe. Its newborn bright-green leaves glisten in the sun. The new life is filled with knowledge and power, much of it still a mystery of science.

Find a place to plant one today. Do the same next year. And for the four years that follow.

These saplings and our children will go hand in hand into the future.”