We have a change of seasons in North Florida, but it's not the "In Your Face Fall" of New England or even North Georgia. The trees won't do any serious leaf color change until mid November.
Oh, the cypress will brown before then and the sweet gums are already turning purple, but most of the other deciduous trees will hang on to both green and their leaves for months still.
Fall is a good time for wildflowers here. My ride home is painted with swamp sunflower, blazing star, coreopsis, and golden rod. Most of our hardwoods are along river swamps so that's where you first start to notice the leaf change.
The yellow flower in the picture above is Swamp Sunflower. The orange is a hand-me down cosmos that gets about 8 feet tall and blooms all summer. The swamp sunflower will make you wait all year as it slowly grows taller and taller until one day you stop and stare in amazement at this skyscraper of a plant with lovely yellow blossoms.
I think some of mine are 10-12 feet tall. That's not a fish tale. These two flowers are a great fall color combination, the rich orange and yellow are a nice substitute for the tree leaves which are still holding their fall colors beneath the last of summer's green.
8 comments:
Great colors. I've only seen cosmos in those pastel pinks, purples, and whites shades. The orange is very cool. Swamp sunflowers 12 feet tall must be spectacular to see. Nice swallowtail too!
Happy Anniversary!
RD,
If the pirate wants cosmos seeds, let me know.Thanks for the anniversary wish!
We'd love to have those orange cosmos seeds. We're just wondering what we can send you in return. Anything from the pacific northwest you're interested in? Pine cones? Oyster shells? Sand dollars?
Ever notice that when it gets just a little bit cooler, or when we get more breeze and less humidity than usual, that everyone here starts hoping that fall has come at last?
Well, I do.. lol We've had strong breezes lately from all the tropical wave/storms out there, and it almost feels like fall!
I miss fall up in north fla too, where the red maples, and dogwoods and redbud trees..et al, would change color.
It's not as pronounced down here in tampa bay. :(
Those are beautiful. I have pink ones...I think. I've rarely seen flowers actually growing on my cosmos because the deer eat them. Sigh.
RD,
How about a pebble or two? We are rock-challenged here in FL. Not necessary tho, I like sharing this plant.
Laura,
I know just what you mean. We FL'ians get all excited over temps and humidity that our northern friends would think are sweltering.
Hick!!!!
Great to have you back! The whole blogosphere missed you!
Yayyy that Hick has resurfaced!
FC - beautiful photo. Nice description of a Florida Fall.
It's been so dry here that all of our pond lillies have dried up and turned over and we're already seeing a bunch of color in the trees across the pond.
For some reason, this year, I look forward to the cold air of winter.
Weary,
I am soooo ready for winter.
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