Exploring the South Florida landscape spending quality time with my family.
What a delightful morning!
My family and I woke up to clear skies this morning, grabbed a breakfast bite on the road and headed off to our second visit to the Nature Trail at Okeeheelee Park, one of the largest parks in the West Palm Beach area with tons to offer--fishing piers, water sports, several pavilions, canoeing and so much more. However, today, we planned to spend quality family time among the natural flora and fauna of the Pinelands region here in South Florida.
We were graced with low humidity as the temperature hovered around 80 degrees. We entered the trail under a healthy canopy of cabbage palms (sabal palmetto), which is the state tree of Florida, and tall slash pine trees (pinus elliottii). Along the various trails that crisscrossed paths, we spotted four different types of butterflies, a variety of familiar native plant species, one squirrel, one basalisk lizard, one large spider, several dragonflies, a handful of bees, and only two other people—nice. What a serene scene. I can only imagine that in the days before air conditioning, sleeping, eating, sitting, walking among other things were best experienced under a dense canopy of trees in the unforgiving South Florida heat.
Since the beginning of my gardening renaissance—my personal reclamation of Florida's native landscape—my eyes have been primed to take notice of the understated beauty and steadfastness of the local plants in our region. I take joy in spotting the unassuming foliage of a native plant thriving solo in a controlled patch of landscaping or growing wild in an untamed plot. This Philly girl turned south Floridian admittedly has even become less skittish around the natural sounds of rustling, buzzing and crackling resulting from busy little critters, lively insects and trees moving about in the wind.
While walking on paths of freshly fallen pine needles, I made a mental note of the light-brown, nature-made mulch blanketing the forest floor. This reminded me of our Pond Cypress needles that fall to the ground each autumn covering our driveway and side walks. We look forward to mulching our garden beds with them each year as they act as fertilizer for the soil. I am quite amazed at how the real landscape of South Florida rarely receives significant representation in residential landscaping--hence my new-found desire to introduce more native plant species into my own backyard. In no particular rush to be anywhere, I happily took pictures, recorded video and gently interacted with my world today.
Blessed by the opportunity to explore and appreciate the gift of life all around us, my family created new memories along paths we have walked together once before. If you happen to find yourself in this neck of the South Florida Pinelands, I encourage you to visit the Okeeheelee Nature Center and Trails for a truly natural Florida experience.
Nature Trail Photos
Thank you for the recommendation! I will check it out and hopefully get to post my experience on the blog. I am still learning the landscape down here in South Florida and Florida in general since I am originally from Philly. I can tell you that it is worlds apart. I'm loving it here though.
I have visited this park a few times along with other natural areas. It is so different from what most people think of when they think of West Palm. Have you been to Jonathan Dickinson Park? I highly recommend you visit. I think you would appreciate it based on this post.