Q: This past fall, my daughter and I collected seeds from our Japanese maple trees to stratify and eventually sell, in lieu of a lemonade stand. Everything went well. We planted the seeds in March. I then noticed to my amazement the hundreds of maple seedlings growing in the yard. I began collecting them and now have over 200 seedlings growing. Did I miss something or are we incredibly blessed with all of these new little seedlings?

A: Stratification is the process of keeping tree seeds cold and damp for three months to stimulate them to germinate. It’s appropriate when you want complete control over a seed’s germination. But Nature does it naturally each winter, as you now see with the hundreds of seedlings. Use whatever you find, they will develop into nice trees. Good luck with the maple tree stand!