What does Golden Wattle look like?
Acacia pycnantha is a large shrub or small tree, reaching 3–8 metres, with distinctive broad, flattened leaf-like stems (phyllodes) rather than true leaves. In late winter and spring it produces a spectacular display of tiny, densely packed, deep golden-yellow fluffy flowers arranged in rounded clusters along the stems. The flowers are not only visually dramatic but powerfully fragrant, with a warm, sweet scent. This combination of vivid yellow flowers and dark green foliage in the depths of winter and early spring made it a natural choice as Australia's national emblem.
Why is the wattle Australia's national flower?
Australia is home to approximately 960 of the world's 1,300 species of Acacia, making it the most wattle-rich country on earth. The Golden Wattle was chosen partly for its beauty and wide distribution across south-eastern Australia, and partly for practical historical reasons: early settlers used the flexible branches of wattles in the wattle-and-daub construction of their first shelters, giving the plant and eventually the country's informal name. The colours — green and gold — were adopted as Australia's national colours in 1984 and appear on all Australian sporting uniforms.
Growing wattle in the UK
Acacia pycnantha is borderline hardy in UK conditions — it can survive in the warmest, most sheltered spots in Cornwall, Devon, coastal South Wales and the Channel Islands, but will be killed by hard winters in most UK regions. More reliably grown under glass or as a conservatory plant, where it produces spectacular winter flowers. The related Acacia dealbata (Silver Wattle, the mimosa of French florists) is slightly hardier and more commonly available in UK garden centres, surviving mild winters against a south-facing wall and producing its silver-yellow flowers in late winter.
Wattle Day — 1 September
Wattle Day was first celebrated in Australia in 1910 and has been marked on 1 September — the first day of spring in the Southern Hemisphere — since 1992. It is an informal national day rather than a public holiday, celebrated with community events, picnics and the wearing of wattle. The date was chosen because Acacia pycnantha flowers in late winter to early spring in most of its native range, making early September the peak of its flowering season in south-eastern Australia.