Wattle Day!

Aug 26, 2025 | Bushfood Garden, Newsletter, Uncategorized

Snowy River Wattle, Acacia boormanii

One of Karen’s favourite landscaping wattles, Snowy River Wattle, Acacia boormanii

Join us in celebrating National Wattle Day 2025.   The first day of spring in September in Australia is traditionally Wattle Day. Bright golden wattle blossom brings the transition from winter’s cold and hibernation to spring’s warmth and movement.

Wattle flowers are rich with pollen, vital for European honeybees as they rapidly expand their hives in spring. Many native insects, birds and wildlife also rely on this pollen source.

Wattle seeds are rich in fibre, protein and minerals and have been widely used for many thousands of years by indigenous Australians. Remarkably, they are still not well represented in modern diets.  See below for more info on specific varieties.

 

How can we celebrate Wattle Day?

  • Visit your local park, waterway or rail trail and take a stroll to find the nearest flowering wattle to enjoy.
  • Visit your local Botanic Garden and see how many different wattles you can find. Some Botanic Gardens have online lists to help you with this.
  • The wonderful volunteer run Melton Botanic Gardens has an Acacia Walk that you can visit, see map.
  • Book early for the Wattle Walk at the Cranbourne Botanic Gardens
  • Plant a wattle in your garden. Consider a ground cover wattle such as Sterling Silver, a cultivar of Acacia binervia, in Organic Gardener magazine #159 page 18. (article by Karen)
  • Plant some wattles in your school bush food garden, for habitat, education and food.
  • Recommended reading; Neville Bonney’s excellent book  “Knowing, Growing Acacia for Food and Conservation“
Ripe wattleseed coastal wattle

Edible Wattle Seeds – a cautionary tale

Most wattle seeds are edible, with the correct heat processing (roasting) to remove their toxins. For a useful chart on correct processing temperatures check the beginning of Neville Bonney’s book “Knowing, Growing and Eating Edible Wild Native Plants for Southern Australia“
Wattle seeds must be fully ripe before they are roasted for eating.
After the ripe seeds have been roasted they have a delicious nutty flavour and are great in cakes, baking and drinks like wattle espresso. Some wattle seeds can be eaten green and unripe, cooked, but make sure you can correctly identify the wattle species before trying this.
Years ago, a group of us at Edible Eden read on multiple online sites that the green seeds and pods of Coastal Wattle were edible when cooked. We excitedly steamed some lovely green pods, but biting into them discovered a horrible burning sensation, which was only relieved by much mouth washing and gargling with water!  We found the steamed green seeds to be delicious, tasting like young peas, but will never try the pods again.
To help you identify and use your wattles safely, we sell several different  wattle signs.  Let us know if you need anything different to these;
  • Black Wattle – Acacia mearnsii
  • Coastal Wattle – Acacia sophorae
  • Sweet Wattle – Acacia suaveolens
  • Varnish Wattle – Acacia verniciflua

Varnish Wattle in the Sprout Edible Garden at Kidstown Mooroopna.

There are several of wattle signs available;
  • Black Wattle – Acacia mearnsii
  • Coastal Wattle – Acacia sophorae
  • Sweet Wattle – Acacia suaveolens
  • Varnish Wattle – Acacia verniciflua
  • We hope our signs are just the beginning, for more understanding, contact a local elder in your area.
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