Mississippi Nature Guide: September 2026
Data updated: August 2026Sources & method · Corrections
September turns Mississippi toward fall — the great hawk and songbird migrations build, scarlet spider lilies bloom after the rains, and the markets fill with sweet potatoes, muscadines, and the early pecans. The first cool fronts break the long summer heat.
Week by week in September
September 3–9
- The fall warbler migration floods the coastal live oaks, where a north-wind fallout can pack the trees with birds before the Gulf crossing.
- Red spider lilies throw up startling drifts of bare scarlet stems across old home sites and ditches after the late-summer rains.
- The Vardaman sweet potato harvest gets underway and muscadines reach their slip-skinned peak.
September 10–16
- Broad-winged Hawks stream south in spiraling kettles of hundreds, joined by Mississippi Kites and Ospreys.
- The prime fall-planting week — direct-sow lettuce, spinach, kale, turnips, and radishes and plant garlic and onions.
- The mast harvest peaks as acorns rain down and persimmons ripen orange after the first cool nights.
September 17–23
- Goldenrod blazes in great waves along the roadsides, joined by fall asters, blue mistflower, and ironweed.
- The fall equinox balances day and night, and from a dark site the Andromeda Galaxy can be glimpsed as a faint smudge.
- Common buckeyes fill the fall fields and cloudless sulphurs continue their strong southward flight.
September 24–30
- The first wintering sparrows arrive and Blue-winged Teal drop into the Delta as the earliest returning ducks.
- The pecan harvest hits its stride and the first new-crop sweet potatoes, apples, and pumpkins fill the stands.
- The bald cypress begins to bronze in the Delta swamps and the sumacs and dogwoods redden.
Birds This Month
September is one of the great migration months in Mississippi, the fall movement building to a flood. Neotropical songbirds pour south through the woods and along the Gulf coast — warblers by the dozen of species (American Redstart, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Tennessee, and many more), tanagers, grosbeaks, buntings, vireos, thrushes, flycatchers, and orioles — staging in the coastal live oaks before the Gulf crossing, where a north-wind fallout can pack the trees with birds. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds still throng the gardens, fattening for the crossing.
The raptor migration peaks: Broad-winged Hawks stream south in spiraling "kettles" of hundreds, joined by Mississippi Kites, Swallow-tailed Kites (departing early), Ospreys, American Kestrels, and Bald Eagles. Southbound shorebirds crowd the Delta mudflats and the coastal flats, and the Gulf Islands National Seashore beaches host migrating terns, plovers, and sandpipers. Common Nighthawks migrate over the towns at dusk, and the first wintering sparrows and the earliest returning ducks — Blue-winged Teal — appear in the Delta by month's end.
What's Blooming
September brings the great fall wildflower bloom to Mississippi, the landscape shifting to golds, purples, and scarlets. The roadsides, old fields, and prairies blaze with goldenrod in great waves, joined by blue mistflower, fall asters, blazing star, ironweed, Joe-pye weed, swamp sunflower, snakeroot, and the last tall sunflowers and partridge pea. The rare Black Belt prairie remnants hold their late blazing star, asters, and rosinweeds on the chalky soils.
The signature event is the red spider lily (hurricane lily, surprise lily), which throws up its bare scarlet stems in startling drifts across old home sites, ditches, and country roadsides after the late-summer rains — a beloved Mississippi sign of fall. In the wetlands, scarlet cardinal flower, blue lobelia, and swamp sunflower bloom, and the native passionflower finishes. In gardens, sasanqua camellias, salvias, lantana, cannas, mums, and the last crepe myrtles carry the show. The pollinator garden fuels the southbound monarchs.
Garden This Month
September is the prime fall-planting month in the Mississippi garden, the long, mild autumn ahead rewarding a full cool-season crop. As the first cool fronts ease the heat, set out transplants of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and Brussels sprouts, and direct-sow lettuce, spinach, mustard, turnips, radishes, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, and green onions — the frost-sweetened greens that are the heart of the Southern fall and winter garden. Plant garlic and multiplying onions toward month's end.
The fall-planted tomatoes and peppers are sizing up for an October harvest before frost — keep them watered and watch for pests. Keep picking the lingering summer crops — okra, southern peas, peppers, eggplant — until they fade, then pull and compost them and refresh the beds. Water the new seedlings faithfully through any late-summer dry spells, and mulch to hold moisture as the rains become irregular. Sow a cover crop of crimson clover or winter rye on any beds you're resting over winter. Divide and plant spring bulbs, irises, and perennials. The fall garden is the most pleasant and productive season of the Mississippi year.
Zone 7b (northeastern hills & the north): plant the fall garden promptly while warmth remains. Set out brassica transplants and direct-sow greens, radishes, and turnips early in the month to mature before the first frost.
Zone 8a (central Mississippi & the Delta): the prime fall-planting month. Set out broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and collard transplants, and direct-sow lettuce, spinach, kale, mustard, turnips, radishes, carrots, and beets as the heat eases.
Zone 9a (Gulf coast): the long, mild fall garden is in full swing. Plant the full range of cool-season crops, keep the fall tomatoes watered toward harvest, and enjoy the most generous growing of the year.
What's at the Farmers Market
September markets shift from summer to fall across Mississippi. The Vardaman sweet potato harvest gets underway — the state's signature crop, the self-proclaimed Sweet Potato Capital of the World — and the first new-crop sweet potatoes appear alongside the fall fruit: muscadines and scuppernongs at their slip-skinned peak, the last figs, the first apples and Asian pears, and the earliest pecans. The vegetable tables still hold late tomatoes, okra, field peas, peppers, eggplant, and the first fall greens, winter squash, and pumpkins.
Gulf shrimp remain at the coastal docks. Cut flowers, honey, and farm eggs round out the stands. Choose muscadines plump, dry, and unbruised and refrigerate them, eating within several days — they keep less well than thin-skinned grapes. Pick sweet potatoes firm and unblemished and let them cure a week or two in a warm spot before storing cool and dry, never refrigerated. Choose pecans heavy in clean shells and store shelled nuts cold to keep the oils fresh. The markets carry the satisfying bounty of the turning season.
Night Sky This Month
September's cooling, clearing nights and the fall equinox make for fine viewing from Mississippi's dark sites — the wide Delta, the forests of Noxubee NWR and the De Soto National Forest, Tishomingo State Park in the northeast, and the unlit beaches of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. The comfortable nights bring out the local astronomy clubs for fall star parties around Jackson and the coast.
In the early evening the summer Milky Way still arches overhead — the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb, and Altair rides high — while the autumn stars climb in the east: the Great Square of Pegasus, the chained figure of Andromeda, and the W of Cassiopeia. From a truly dark Mississippi site, the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the most distant thing visible to the unaided eye, can be glimpsed as a faint smudge near Cassiopeia. There is no major meteor shower this month, but the steady, clear nights reward deep-sky observing. The printable Mississippi night-sky guide lists this year's planet positions and the best dark-sky sites for the autumn nights.
Butterflies & Pollinators
September builds toward Mississippi's great fall butterfly migration. The monarchs begin to move south — the migratory super-generation streams through the state, the numbers building through the month toward the October peak, drifting along the ridges and funneling toward the Gulf coast. The cloudless sulphurs pour south in a strong, steady flight, and gulf fritillaries are abundant on the passionflower and nectaring at every bloom.
The resident butterflies stay rich — eastern tiger and other swallowtails, common buckeyes (especially numerous in fall), variegated fritillaries, pearl and phaon crescents, fiery and other grass skippers, and red admirals. Along the Gulf coast, long-tailed skippers, white peacocks, and southern strays brighten the gardens. The blooming goldenrod, blue mistflower, fall asters, lantana, zinnias, and the spider lilies are alive with nectaring butterflies fueling for migration. Planting native fall nectar and leaving the milkweed standing directly fuels the monarchs' long journey to Mexico. The fall flight is one of the season's true spectacles.
What to plant for them is in the Mississippi native plants guide
Trees This Month
September begins the slow turn of the Mississippi forest toward fall, the first color showing in the early-turning trees. The blackgum (tupelo) leads the way, its leaves flaring deep scarlet and burgundy in the bottomlands and along the roadsides — the earliest and one of the most brilliant of the state's fall colors — joined by the reddening sumacs, dogwoods, and the first sweetgum and Virginia creeper. The hickories begin to yellow in the hills.
The mast harvest is in full swing: the acorns rain down from the oaks, the hickory nuts and pecans drop and split their husks, the persimmons ripen orange and soft after the first cool nights, the muscadines and wild grapes hang ripe, and the magnolia cones split to show their scarlet seeds. The black walnut drops its green-husked nuts. This is the great feast that fuels the southbound migrants and the resident wildlife. In the Delta swamps the bald cypress begins to bronze, and along the coast the live oaks drop their early acorns. The forest tips toward autumn.
The Mississippi native plants guide covers what grows with them
Weather & Daylight
Across Mississippi, a typical September day averages a high near 87°F and a low near 64°F, with about 3.8 inches of precipitation — statewide averages from the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals.
Heat begins loosening its grip as highs ease to 87 and nights cool to 64, rainfall tapering noticeably.
| Average high | 87°F |
|---|---|
| Average low | 64°F |
| Precipitation | 3.8 in |
| Sunrise (mid-month) | 6:42 CT |
| Sunset (mid-month) | 19:06 CT |
Figures are statewide averages over the 1991–2020 U.S. climate normals; local conditions vary with elevation and distance from the coast. Sunrise and sunset are computed for a midstate point on the 15th (CT).
Next month's version of this page, by email
One short note when Mississippi's next month turns — what's arriving, blooming, and worth a night outside.
Go deeper with the Mississippi guides
The complete Mississippi birding, native-plant, and night-sky references — or the whole year, week by week, in one book.
Same month elsewhere: September in Missouri · September in Montana · September in Nebraska