In temperate and boreal regions, trees adapt to growth at different latitudes by strictly regulating their annual growth cycle. Through an integration of photoperiodic and temperature cues they control the timing of their entry into, and exit from, winter dormancy. Ove and colleagues are studying the central role of Aspen tree homologs of the Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes in this process and the importance of gene duplications and sub-functionalization. Ove will also provide a short update about the progress of a large Swedish project generating new reference genomes for Norway spruce and Scots pine.