As you travel through my site, you will be able to visit many pages that contain photos and pages about magnolias.

But first, a little bit about where I live and where the magnolias grow.

The Gulf Coast

I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where a twenty-six mile beach displays an ever-changing array of sunsets, sailboats, shrimp boats and shore birds.

©2001 Linda S. Nix

Yes, we have Sea Oats, too.

Here, huge live oak trees flourish close to the water, and Spanish Moss cascades from their branches, casting an eerie spell as the winter fog sets in and giving an aura of beauty and peace in the sumertime.

Magnificent magnolia trees are abundant, gracing the entire area with their beauty and their rich prefumed fragrance. They provide luscious blossoms during the late spring and early summer, and striking red pods in the fall. Since the theme of this site is magnolias, and you will see pages and pages about them, plus pages of my magnolia photographs.

One of my passions is photographing magnolias. I never tire of the many faces and facets of the blossoms.

© 2000 Linda S. Nix

Breathtaking sunsets sink over Biloxi's Back Bay near our home.

You can frequently see white and Blue Herons perched on driftwood emerging from the water as well as many snowy egrets. In Winter of 2003 , the resident white heron had four babies.

Fish and shrimp abound in the bay; mullet (called Biloxi Bacon) jump continuously. Skimmers and seagulls glide over Popps Ferry Bridge ever so gracefully. Pelicans (becoming more and more abundant) perch on the boat piers, and they, too, soar over the bridge and along the beach.

 
© 2001 Linda S. Nix

Along Front Beach (the 26-mile beach along the Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico), sea oats blow in the breeze as flocks of laughing gulls flit about overhead. Least Terns nest in protected areas of the beach during the summers.
On the Beach, pelicans soar gracefully just above the water, then splash ungracefully into the Gulf to capture a fish. Cranes, Egrets, Sandpipers, Skimmers and Least Terns provide a never-ending fascination to watch near water's edge. If you have a sailboat, you can sail up and down the coast, possibly spotting a school of bottle-nose dolphin who love to swim alongside humans in boats, rolling up and down in the waves.  
For sure, if you sail or motor out to the islands, you will see dolphins.
Recently in warm months, manatees sightings have been reported.

Our waters are not as clear and pristine as the beaches in Florida, but that is because we have the barrier islands to block the waves, keeping the Sound shallow for quite a ways out. Also, quite a few rivers empty into the Gulf, bringing silt and water that isn't blue or green because of leaves that drop into the rivers and wash downstream. Our waters are perfect for crabs and shrimp and oysters, and we have been known in the past as the seafood capital of the world because of our shallow waters. Still, the waters on the beach are used for swimming, surfboarding, sailing, and paddle-wheeling. Because of the shallow Sound and the nutrients in the water, we can boast that we are breeding grounds for crabs, shrimp, flounder, redfish, and other seafood.

I feel that I must post this warning: Our waters are presently not safe to swim or wade in due to the dangers of the debris from Hurricane Katrina. Efforts are underway to try to clean the waters, but it will take a very long time before it is safe to go into the water. Quite a few beachers are now open, so you can enjoy sunbathing and watching the shore birds on the beach for now.

To see how my neighborhood fared in Katrina, you can go Here.

Check out our subtropical temperature.

To read more about Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, please go to my Biloxi page.
Here you can learn what to see and do in Biloxi.