How does a tree grow new branches?

Next time you are outside, gently touch the end of a tree twig. Right at the tip, you can feel a small, hard bump. Run your finger along the twig, and you find more bumps.

Now look up at a big tree, with all its branches reaching out. Each one of those branches was new once. So how does a tree grow a brand new branch?

It all starts with those bumps. Each bump is a bud, which means a closed-up packet that holds something new. Buds sit at the tip of a twig. More sit right where a leaf joins the twig.

All winter long, each bud stays shut tight. Tough scales wrap around it like a cosy coat. They keep the soft inside safe from frost and cold.

Then spring comes, with warm and sunny days. The warmth wakes the bud, and it swells up fat and round. Soon its coat splits open. What do you think is folded up inside?

Out peeks a shoot, which means a soft green stem with little leaves on it. This is a baby branch! Now it begins to stretch out into the light.

The shoot grows from its very tip. The tip keeps adding a bit more, and a bit more. Day by day, the shoot gets longer and reaches farther out.

Along the shoot, the new leaves open wide. They catch sunshine and make food from it. The shoot uses that food to keep growing.

Through the summer, the soft green shoot turns hard and brown. It becomes wood, just like the rest of the tree. Now it is strong enough to stay up in the wind. The shoot has become a brand new branch!

Spring warmth wakes a bud on a twig. Its shoot grows long and turns into a new branch.

Up in the big tree, the new branch sways in the summer breeze. Its green leaves flutter and shine in the sun.