Wattle Garden

Wattles are familiar to all Australians. Their characteristic fluffy yellow flowers are so recognisable that the Golden Wattle Acacia pycnantha was chosen to be our national floral emblem.

We have about 960 species of wattle — or Acacia — native to Australia, and they are the most widespread and numerous of all our plants. Wattles occur in most habitats even alpine areas and some rainforests, and they are also found in other sub-humid and arid parts of the world, such as Africa, India and America.

People have used wattles for building, furniture and tanning, to make tools and weapons, as medicine and as food. The name wattle comes from early settlers’ use of branches of the ‘black wattle’ (Callicoma serratifolia) to construct ‘wattle-and-daub’ buildings.

Wattles are useful in the garden as ‘nurse’ plants — they grow quickly and shelter other plants, and they stabilise and improve the condition of soils by adding organic matter and nitrogen (‘fixed’ from the air by a symbiotic Rhizobium fungus living on their roots).

Self-guided walks

Long self-guided walk — takes about 20 minutes to complete. You will see numbers 1 to 15.

Short self-guided walk  — (sealed path suitable for wheelchairs) — takes about 10 minutes to complete. You will see numbers 1–3, 10 and 11. Most of the wattles mentioned in this brochure flower from winter to early spring.

Plants marked * grow well in Mount Annan and surrounding suburbs and are available from local nurseries.

1. Timber
Blackwoods (Acacia melanoxylon*) are large and long-lived wattles, with good timber that has been used for making shields and furniture. They can’t be successfully grown in plantations yet and are harvested from the wild.

2. Our floral emblem
Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha*) is Australia’s floral emblem. Other wattles here have been used for medicine, food, weapons, fodder and shelter.

3. Spears and boomerangs
Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla) wood was used for spears, boomerangs, clubs, fishing rods and fencing, and the leaves for making dye.

Long walk: turn left before Lake Howe (the dam at the bottom of the garden) onto the soft path and proceed to no. 4.

Short walk: stay on the sealed path and proceed to no. 10. On your left you will see the soft, pendulous foliage of the Weeping Boree (Acacia vestita) and further along on your right is the silver-foliaged Acacia covenyi.

4. Grey foliage
You will go past the soft, grey leaves of Cootamundra Wattle (Acacia baileyana*) on either side. This species is commonly grown for its foliage but is becoming a problem weed in some areas. Other species with interesting foliage are the the Knife-Leaf Wattle (Acacia cultriformis*) and Clay Wattle (Acacia glaucoptera*).

5. Poisons and soil stabilisation
Aborigines used the bark of Cooba or Willow-leaved Wattle (Acacia salicina) to poison fish.  A useful plant for stabilising soil as the plants are bushy to ground level and spread by suckers, it is also said to tolerate saline conditions and some coastal exposure.

6. Mulga
There is a pure stand of Mulga (Acacia aneura) on the left as you walk around the top of the small gully to the west of Lake Howe. Mulga was used for spears, shields, fodder and souvenirs and is one of the most widespread wattles in Australia, dominating arid habitats.

7. African olives
To the west of the Wattle Garden you will see African Olives covering the slopes of Mt Annan. This species is a problem weed which excludes the regrowth of native species, and it is the subject of an ongoing removal program.

8. Perfumed flowers
Continuing up the western side of the gully, the soft path on your right passes the Hakea Wattle (Acacia hakeoides*) with pleasantly perfumed flowers. The name refers to its hakea-like foliage, one of the numerous different foliage types displayed by wattles.

9. Mount Annan natives
If you follow the pathway with steps into the gully, note that many of the plants in the creek-line are native to this site — Prickly-leaved Tea Tree (Melaleuca styphelioides), Grey Box (Eucalyptus moluccana) and Forest Red Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis).

10. Moist and shady
The wattles here  prefer a moister, more shaded habitat. At the top of the steps, keep left and continue along the path past the ‘Frogs & Lizards’ sign. You will go through a grove of the Fringed Wattle (Acacia fimbriata), which is common in moist sites and also in open eucalypt communities. 

11. Downy plants
On the left is the hairy Clerodendron or Downy Chance Tree (Clerodendrum tomentosum), native to Mount Annan, with its downy leaves. Turn right towards the toilets. At the bend in the path is the Downy Wattle (Acacia pubescens) a rare species from western Sydney, with downy branchlets.

Long walk: continue left through the car park (look out for traffic) and up the steps at the dry stone wall.

Short walk: Finish at the picnic shelter.

12. Fine and feathery
At the top of the steps at the dry-stone wall constructed of local shale, you will see a wattle with bluish feathery foliage. This is the Mudgee Wattle (Acacia spectabilis), a showy species which is very popular in cultivation. You will also see some small shrubby peas which are Swainsona galegifolia. These have colourful flowers in pinks, purples and oranges.

13. Conserving water
Continue across the carpark to the soft path. Many of the dry country wattles have narrow or hardened foliage to reduce water loss from the plant. The Streaked Wattle (Acacia lineata) has sticky phyllodes (expanded leaf stalks) and the River Cooba (Acacia stenophylla) has long, drooping phyllodes.

14. Fascinating foliage
The path loops around past a wide range of interesting wattle foliage types, with different shapes, colours, and textures. Look out for the beautiful ferny silver foliage of the Chinchilla Wattle (Acacia chinchillensis). Weeping Myall (Acacia pendula) has a delicate, willow-like habit.

15. Queensland sandstone wattles
The walk finishes at the carpark. As you drive out of the carpark, on your left in the raised bed you will see an interesting range of rare species of wattles from central Queensland, including Acacia burbigeae and Acacia resinicostata.