Fall Color in the Florida Prairie, by Tim Kozusko

Fall Color in the Florida Prairie, by Tim Kozusko
Kissimmee Prairie wildflowers give autumn leaves a run for the money.

Kissimmee Prairie in the Fall

The changing seasons in Florida are subtle at first, but once you know what to look for they are easy to notice. As late summer turns to autumn on the Kissimmee Prairie you will not see many leaves change color, for there are few deciduous trees in this part of Florida. There are few trees of any kind; it is a prairie after all! What you will see is the blush of color from the autumn-blooming asters and grasses. 

Fueled by a nutrient flush from early growing season fire, and quenched by summer rains, the Prairie comes alive in color, adding the yellows of goldenrod and goldentops to the blues and purples of the gayfeather and paintbrush.

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Red-banded Hairstreak on Yellowtop

Catesby's Lily with treefrog

Bushy Bluestem

Where fire has triggered flowering, wiregrass and lopsided Indiangrass will “tower” over the palmettos and impart a look reminiscent of wheat fields. As autumn progresses you will see the fluffy seeds of the groundsel bush and the broomsedge grasses mature and take to the air on the breeze as the first cold fronts move through.

But there is much more to this display. Many of these plants are annuals that grow through the summer, flower, and die, leaving seeds behind to brush next year’s pastels over the landscape. The plants have captured sunlight and stored it in tissues, pollen, and fruits that either feed migratory songbirds or the insects that the birds eat to replace energy spent flying south.

Lopsided Indiangrass ©Tim Kozusko

Eastern Meadowlark in the Gayfeather

Have you visited the Kissimmee Prairie lately? Now is the perfect time to see its beautiful fall colors.