Sabal palmetto habitat shots

[kylecawazafla]

I know everyone is probably tired of seeing photos of this palm tree, but I went driving on some of the backroads around Gainesville, Florida, and found some very impressive stands of these palms. It made me rethink my previous notion that generic palms are boring and not impressive. However, it does help that these palms are growing in beautiful settings.

LOL, do you see the stop sign??? It made me stop to take the photo.

Some spanish moss to fill in the picture

[kylecawazafla]

Here are some growing at the edge of a meadow

another one in the forest. It's so exciting living in a place where palm trees are actually native! It's a great upgrade from Seattle, even if my USDA Zone stayed the same!

[kylecawazafla]

Now I found this an interesting little piece of Florida natural history. This lake is called Orange Lake. It's a giant shallow lake with an average depth of less than 10 feet. That's pretty normal for Florida though, however. Anyways, in the 1950's a sinkhole opened up in this lake draining most of the water into Florida's aquifer making it's shoreline drastically recede. Lakefront home owners were very upset with this, so people took school buses and cars and dumped them into the sinkhole in order to clog it. It worked! However, the lake is not quite it's pre-sinkhole (or pre - doline) level, leaving many of the boat docks inoperable since the water is either non-existent or too shallow. It was very cool seeing some of these derelict sights!! Also, since the lake is so shallow, lots of it is covered with vegetation.

[gyuseppe]

hello kyle.

is in Gainesville? outside the city?

[kylecawazafla]

Here are the pictures:

[kylecawazafla]

This side is still used for small single motor boats.

[kylecawazafla]

This side is no longer in use.

I wonder what it looked like in its prime??

Here is the open water!

I think the sinkhole that opened up is somewhere by where this picture is taken.

[kylecawazafla]

Here is a bonus shot of what I think could be the tallest Sabal palmetto in Gainesville, FL. It is in the center of University of Florida's campus.

[merrill]

Hi, Kyle:

Thank you for posting those photos of old Florida!

Best Wishes,

merrill

[downtownfish]

I am also growing an appreciation for this palm. Never really cared for them growing up in South Florida, but now they sometimes catch my attention.

[jayfro6]

Beautiful pictures of one of my favorite palms. Good stuff.

[FRITO]

Kyle great shots. I never get tired of looking of them! those are some nice native pictures, definently tropical looking this time of year!

we have a lake like that here in Tallahassee, sinkhole opened up in the middle of it and drained it all the fish and aligators went down.

heres the wiki link if interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Jackson_...assee,_Florida)

[Kailua_Krish]

Ahhh. Home sweet home I miss it while I'm here in Virginia!

Krishna

[Mark Heath]

Kyle,

Nice pics! I have allways loved the Sabal and you have captured them in some nice settings!

[PalmGuyWC]

Kyle,

Those are beautiful photos, and they take me back to my roots as I was born in that kind of country. What could be more beautiful than the Spanish moss draped trees mixed with Sabals? Those pictures capture the essence of the deep South.

Dick

[amazondk]

Thanks for the trip Kyle. The landscape is great.

dk

[Brad Mondel]

thanks for those pictures ,this is one of my favorite palms and it is definetly not boring or generic to me palmetto's are the signiture of the south,and the palm i remember when i went on vacation,they bring memories back ...............

[bubba]

Kyle, Great shots of an under-appreciated beauty. Those Sabals set against the giant Live Oaks wrapped in Spanish Moss. Those shots remind me of the great citrus groves that grew around those hills adjoining Orange Lake before the the freezes in the 1980's. The best navels in Florida in the hills of McIntosh as big as grapefruit. In fact, G'ville was the heart of the citrus belt in the 1800's before the 1890 freezes.

Sink holes in Florida sucking up lakes! Go take a look at Paynes Prarie, which was Paynes Lake just 100 years ago. Steamboat rides and all. It disappeared in two days sucked down a sink hole leaving a rather large number of dead fish. Do not expect a return of Paynes Lake, which has been duly engaged by the DOT/Army Corp. Too much traffic.

Among those Sabals and Oaks wrapped in Spanish moss near Micanopy, remember that Osceola waved the white flag of truce after fighting US Troops to a draw. Against that backdrop, the US Troops took Osceola into custody breaking their word and imprisoning him in the Old Fort at St. Augustine.

[SubTropicRay]

Great shots Kyle! The Spanish Moss completes the photographs. This is true unspoiled Florida at its best.

[Lucinda]

I fished this lake in the early 80's-- from a shallow draft Boston Whaler. Tons of lively bass, anhingas drying their wings, and alligators. Orange connects to Lake Lackloosa via Cross Creek, where Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings had her home. Lovely part of Olde South Florida. Thank you so much for the photos.

Lucinda

[kylecawazafla]

I'm surprised how many people know of Orange Lake! It is really out in the middle of nowhere unless you take the 441. Most people just take i-75 or the turnpike anyways. There is one point on 441 where you get a vista over the entire area. It's very rare in Florida to get a vista. One day I'll have to take a picture from there. Sorry for the quality of the photos, they are only 1 megapixel. I just got a new camera and have been experimenting with the settings so I've still got a lot of improvement to do. I'm hoping this camera will be better than my old one since none of my pictures are nearly as high quality as most members on this board. It is really a beautiful area. I don't mind the muggy weather when it provides a suitable climate for so many interesting plants. If it weren't for freezes, I'm sure Royals and Paurotis palms would be native all the way up to this area! I read once that Gainesville, FL got down to 6 F in 1899! If about 30 freezing days could be erased over the last century, I'm sure things would look a lot different around these parts!

Bubba! I do go to Paynes Prairie quite often! It's the terminal point of my runs if I decide to run during the day. The first time I went there in 2005, it had almost been a lake, and since then the water level has fluctuated drastically. The La Chua sink, which is the lowest portion of Paynes Prairie was almost empty, and had hundreds of Alligators crowded into the small area. We have had quite a bit of rain over the last few months however, and they have since dispersed with the higher water levels. The water table in Florida really does some interesting things to the landscape! I really have no knowledge of the civil war in Florida. I see signs every once in a while pointing to former battlefields.

[Peter Pacific]

Kyle, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...I wasn´t going to look at your blog, and am so glad I did. I lived in Florida since I was 12 and thought to myself ¨more sabals¨ I´ve seen them my whole life. But your pictures are spectacular and I am so grateful that people like you give me a new appreciation for the native palms around us. Now, Guatemala is my home of 7 years and I will post some pictures of S. guatemalensis in the natural habitat of the southern coast. the best to you, Peter

[Scott Zona]

Great shots, Kyle. So nice to see big specimens in their natural habitat.

[JayW]

Very nice! One of my favorites as well.

[kylecawazafla]

Great news! I finally figured out my new camera. Hopefully my photos will be better soon! I decided to go back to Orange Lake to take a picture of the vista of the lake! It's very rare to be able to see long distance in inland Florida, so many of you might not be aware that it is possible in this state!

[_Keith]

Man, did you figure it out, or what. That is a tremendously beautiful photograh. Way to go, Kyle.

[bubba]

Kyle, Those hills that descended down to the Lake were all citrus until the freezes of the 1980's. Great shots!

[Matthew92]

Near Crystal River, FL