"I know it's surprising! It's often very cold and dark during the winter, and the summer lasts only 6 to 10 weeks, which means shorter growing seasons and minimum amounts of sunlight. As well, in the Arctic there is little rainfall and most of the ground is covered by a thick frozen layer called permafrost. It's hard for plants to root themselves in frozen ground! Thankfully some of this frozen ground thaws during the 24 hour days of sunlight in the summer, which allows some plants to grow, like the Arctic Willow, Tufted Saxifrage, Arctic Poppy, lichen, tuber, and moss."