Wednesday 31 August 2016

Gold Dust Wattle

In recognition of Wattle Day I'm posting about a plant in my garden.

We had been away from home for a month or so and when we returned the first thing I saw in my garden was the Gold Dust Wattle Acacia acinacea in full bloom.

Gold Dust Wattle Acacia acinacea
Gold Dust Wattle grows naturally north of Geelong in the Brisbane Ranges National Park but I bought my plant in a nursery and I don't know its provenance. The flowers are balls of yellow, the stems angled and flattened and many of the phyllodes (leaves) have a beak set to one side of the point. My plant is growing next to a driveway in sandy loam but the foliage is quite soft and it can be pruned back without harming the plant. It is about a metre high and I think it will grow a bit higher yet. Apparently they live for several decades.

Angled stems and beaked phyllodes


Insect on branchlet

1 comment:

Gouldiae said...

G'day Lorraine,
How nice to see some A.acinacea in bloom. Not seen much of it here in West Gippsland, but it was well represented on the Heyfield Golf Course - my old stamping ground. Thanks for the memories!
PW