Florida Seasons

They say that Florida has no change of seasons, but mid September, in a good year, the noonday high drops to the eighties as the sun falls low in the west, the hint of relief tints the thinner air with cooler blue tones. Already the bloom stalks of the Queen palms are dropping their gold as a preface to fruiting. By October the raintrees are a saffron riot of flower, November brings russet pods that rattle in a cooler breeze before their final show of brightest yellow leaves. Still a while before the frost turns Florida Maple to burgundy, Virginia Creeper and poison Ivy will decorate the Lives Oaks with crimson streaming garland. In the swampland in December, Bald Cypress drop their needles and an ocher carpet softens the stealth of the hunter's footstep. Christmas brings red berries of the Florida hollies and Brazilian Pepper trees. The sky is bluer now, the air is dryer. Crape Myrtle and Sweetgum will have their show in red and bronze. Fall is subtle in Florida, winter is a few cold nights, but Florida has its seasons till the Live Oaks dust the streets with green in the bone dry fire season of Spring.