Winter in the forests of North Florida’s Deep South is often quite lush due to the predominance of evergreen vegetation. Morning low temperatures are sometimes just above freezing and quickly warm with the rising sun.
Here, on this December morning, a soft mist developed as the surrounding swamp began to warm, lending a bit of visual isolation to the foreground stand of trees. This section of the Apalachicola National Forest, located in Northern Wakulla County, Florida, is an area known by the locals as “Oak Garden”.
Wakulla is a Timucuan Indian word meaning “spring of water” or “mysterious waters”. This basin, flanked by a stand of ancient Live Oak trees, fills with water for a few days after a rare, heavy and sustained rain. As the water seeps into the porous limestone below the leaf-laden forest floor, eddies form and swirl, dancing to their own song of nature.
