Last October I planted the eyeball-sized seeds of Ohio buckeyes at marked locations to study mid-winter sprouting near this tree's southern limit of natural range. Today the first seedlings poke up in keeping with the buckeye's unusual jump on spring. I want to see the color of first leaves in wooded versus exposed locations, since some seedlings are dressed in bright green while others are scarlet. Reddish photosynthetic pigments are used in reduced light by plants growing through leaf litter in early spring, when the sun is low in the sky. But today's seedlings don't follow instructions; they sprout green and red in all directions. First leaves endure until late February. Then the scarlet ones blanch and turn slightly greenish before disappearing at the same time as green ones in the forest's April shade. Especially wondrous is the buckeye's fast-growing, extensive tap root. It makes six-inch spiral coils at the bottom of three-inch deep pots, when the leafy sprouts are only two inches tall. Ohio buckeyes live naturally on lower slopes and stream terraces in relatively deep soil, where their long tap root is an energy storehouse for next year's growth and an anchor for survival against the force of floodwater and soil erosion.