This year I have chosen a Wattle to celebrate which may not actually be in flower on the first day of Spring! Acacia linifolia: Flax Wattle often begins flowering in Summer and may be finishing up by late August. The Acacias are a huge and varied genus and when I think of Wattle as a whole I imagine them flowering in Winter filling the air with their heavy sweet scent and giving hope and inspiration for warmer days to come. And National Wattle Day is that a celebration of the arrival of Spring with warmer weather and hopefully more sunshine!

That’s why I have chosen Acacia linifolia this year, it was flowering under a stand of Eucalyptus in the dappled shade. It appears almost un assuming from a distance but as you are drawn closer by the scent you realise what an incredible show this species is putting on covering itself in cream ball shaped flowers.

Acacia linifolia in a slender arching shrub growing to between 2 and 4m high and around 2m wide, it prefers part shade and a moist well drained soil and is found naturally in open woodland forest and heath on Hawkesbury Sandstone.

This wattle makes a gentle privacy screen as it is actually fairly dense even though the leaves are long and narrow. It is also fairly tolerant of wind and very quick growing, it is an excellent bee attracting native for both native bees and honey bees and the seed pods are a good food source for parrots.