The 1st September in the Southern Hemisphere marks the official first day of Spring.
It’s also celebrated here in Australia as Australian National Wattle Day. The day is significant for us because on the 1st September, 1988, the wattle was proclaimed as Australia’s National Floral Emblem.
Most Importantly, the wattle is also included in Australia’s Coat of Arms which was proclaimed in 1912.
Back to National Wattle Day, when we should all, by tradition, wear a sprig of wattle on our lapel or somewhere else on our clothing. In all of my life I’ve never seen this done.
Perhaps it is because the beautiful yellow blossoms of the wattle are one of the great causes of hay fever people experience during spring and summer.
When She Who Must Be Obeyed and I were deciding what to plant on our bare ground block of land we decided to add an occasional wattle to the variety of eucalyptus native to our area we thought would grow well.
It’s 15 years now since we planted over100 tube stock trees in our back yard including a few wattles. The wattles are fast growing and provide great protection for other trees and shrubs whose growth is considerably slower.
As time passed, many more wattles sprung up through self seeding and now flourish around our yard.
Fortunately we are not hay fever sufferers to any marked degree and therefore we can really enjoy the yellow blossoms in all of their beauty.
Here are a few images of our wattles wearing their beautiful bee attracting blossoms.
The eucalyptus in the background were tubes we planted over 15 years ago. At the time of planting they were about nine inches tall. They are now well in excess of 20 feet tall and provide safe nesting for many native birds. They also form a pleasing sight barrier between us and surrounding residences.
All of our trees are basically drought proof, one of the reasons we planted them in the first place.
Now, our city’s occasional water problems have been solved and we are thinking of adding some european trees to the mix, just to give that little touch of deciduous difference to our evergreen surroundings.
I was going to hold this post until the 1st day of September but enthusiasm got the better of me.
Hoo roo for now.