Bhg
  • Shop
  • News
  • Food
  • DIY
  • Garden
  • Renovating
  • Decorating
  • Health
  • TV
  • Hard to Find
Bhg
  • Shop
  • News
  • Food
  • DIY
  • Garden
  • Renovating
  • Decorating
  • Health
  • TV
  • Hard to Find
Subscribe
  1. Home
  2. Garden

How to grow and care for wattle

Turn up the sunshine in your yard this spring! - by Jenny Dillon
  • 21 Sep 2021

With their masses of yellow blooms and buttery scent, wattles are nothing short of spectacular. These bush beauties (Acacia sp.) are true performers.

WATCH: All about wattle with Graham Ross

Wattle is easy to grow, quick to mature, forgiving of neglect and generous with their flowers. There’s a truly mind-boggling range in Australia – it’s estimated at as many as 850 species!

Their growth habits vary vastly, from tall trees to screen plants, shrubs and ground covers. In recent years, compact forms with attractive foliage have been released, which are marvellous for growing in large pots and tubs.

Quick to shine

Wattles live life in the fast lane, growing rapidly from seed and flowering profusely from a young age. On the flip-side, they can also be short-lived, lasting between seven and 12 years. However, you can use this to your advantage.

Great colonisers (meaning they’re good at growing in disturbed or freshly cleared soil), wattles can be planted up and used to protect more delicate understorey plants from above. 

For gardeners confronting bare land, wattles are a quick screening plant to use while slower plants establish. In fact, to see their colonising habits in action, you only have to watch an area of bushland after fire, as wattles are often the first seedlings to pop up – they’re the true pioneers of the bush.

wattle-how-to-grow

How to care for wattle

Aspect

Wattles grow happily in any sunny to semi-shaded spot. They have good tolerance to extremes of both heat and cold, however, if your garden is prone to heavy winter frosts, it’s worth planting species indigenous to your area, as these will be the most robust growers.

Soil

Wattles aren’t fussy about soil types but do need it to be free draining, so don’t plant in soggy spots that are slow to drain after heavy rainfall.

Watering

Water young trees regularly while they’re establishing. Once settled, wattles are hardy, water-wise plants that will get by on natural rainfall. During heatwaves and droughts, give them a drink to keep them going. 

Fertiliser

Because they can ‘fix’ their own nitrogen, it’s not necessary to feed wattles. However, if planted among other native plants, they won’t mind a small amount of blood and bone or a low-phosphorus native plant food.

Maintenance

While plants are young and directly after flowering, tip pruning helps keep wattles bushy and compact, prolongs their life, and removes seed heads. But avoid heavy pruning – don’t cut into wood any thicker than a pencil.

Apply a layer of natural leaf litter or chunky bark over the soil to keep the roots cool, conserve soil moisture and restrict weed growth. Just keep it well back from the trunk itself.

Acacia cognata

Where to plant wattles in your garden

How to propagate wattles

Wattles are most commonly propagated by seed. The plant produces long pods that hold the seeds. The seed coat is hard, so it needs to be soaked in hot water for 24 hours before being planted. Use only the seeds that have swollen or scarify the seeds by rubbing with sandpaper. Then, plant about 5cm apart in a free-draining, seed-raising mix, press down lightly and water. Put in a semi-shade position and keep moist. Germination will occur within days or a few weeks.

How to grow wattle in small pots

If you are planning to grow your wattle in a small pot here are some tips best suited to the Acacia cognata varieties such as “Limelight”.

  1. Choose a pot that is at least twice the size of the selected plant. Position in the garden that receives full sun to part shade.
  2. Fill the pot with a quality potting mix.
  3. Position in hole and backfill with potting mix, gently firming down. Water in well.
  4. Mulch around the base with organic, keeping it away from the trunk.
  5. Feed in Autumn and Spring with a fertiliser to ensure strong root development.
  6. Water is only required for young plants, but for older wattles showing signs of distress give a soak in a very dry period.

Wattle for small gardens

Many wattles may be too large or straggly when not in flower to be suitable for your garden. But breeders have now produced a host of smaller wattles suited to the Australian garden. Tall, small, elegant or cute, they can be tumbling over a wall, rippling along a border, standing proud as a specimen or even standing out with a blaze of scarlet flowers.

Wattle

Check with your local council first

Check with your local authority before buying a wattle. Despite being Australian natives, some may be considered a weed in your area and not encouraged. For example, Cootamundra wattle (Acacia baileyana) is discouraged outside NSW and the silver or Mount Morgan wattle (A. podalriifolia) outside Queensland.

Wattle seed pods

Wattle seeds

After flowering has finished, wattles are covered with hundreds of dangling seed pods. A staple of Indigenous diets for more than 60,000 years, they can be used in multiple ways. Try the flour in damper or bread - or try this recipe for kakadu plum and wattleseed brownie.

Wattle
Getty

Wattles for your state

NSW

Cootamundra wattle (A. baileyana)

Mudgee or Pilliga wattle (A. spectabilis)

West Wyalong wattle (A. cardiophylla)

VICTORIA

Mallee wattle (A. Montana)

Sydney golden wattle (A. longifolia)

QUEENSLAND

Queensland silver wattle (A. Podalyriifolia)

Weeping myall (A. pendula)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Flinders Ranges wattle (A. Iteaphylla)

Barrier Range wattle (A. beckleri)

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Drummond's wattle (A. drummondii)

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Swamp wattle (A. dimidiata)

TASMANIA

Sweet-scented wattle (A. suaveolens). Also throughout mainland east coast. 

You might also like:

10 of the best spring flowers

5 plants that will attract native wildlife into your garden

How to grow jasmine

  • Garden
  • Backyard Ideas
  • Front Garden Ideas
  • Landscape Design Ideas
Jenny Dillon
Jenny Dillon
Jenny Dillon is the garden editor of Better Homes and Gardens. Her passion for gardening began in her mother’s huge vegetable patch and orchard in the country and now extends to the challenge of city plots, where the constraints are countered by the delights.

Treat yourself to a subscription-Save up to 25%

Plus, your chance to win

Subscribe Now
Treat yourself to a subscription

Treat yourself to a subscription-Save up to 25%

Plus, your chance to win

Subscribe Now
Treat yourself to a subscription

Recommended to you

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
Watch 6:32

YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR

{headline}

{headline}

Graham visits the Illawarra Grevillea Park

Graham visits the Illawarra Grevillea Park

The essential guide to Australian native plants

The essential guide to Australian native plants

How to create a native verge garden

How to create a native verge garden

How to help your garden survive a heatwave

How to help your garden survive a heatwave

{headline}

{headline}

Is this Australia's best garden for seniors?

Is this Australia's best garden for seniors?

Melissa revisits Lambley gardens in autumn

Melissa revisits Lambley gardens in autumn

Graham visits Wild Meadows garden

Graham visits Wild Meadows garden

{headline}

{headline}

Graham visits Breenhold Gardens

Graham visits Breenhold Gardens

How to grow peonies

How to grow peonies

Charlie visits landscape designer Peter Shaw’s garden

Charlie visits landscape designer Peter Shaw’s garden

How to grow your own fruit

How to grow your own fruit

Charlie’s top gardening tips for Autumn

Charlie’s top gardening tips for Autumn

How to fix a trouble spot in your garden

How to fix a trouble spot in your garden

How to make multi-level corten steel garden beds

How to make multi-level corten steel garden beds

Bhg
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Bhg Magazine Subscribe
  • About Us
  • Subscribe Today
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Brands

  • All Recipes
  • BHG Shop
  • Girlfriend
  • Home Beautiful
  • New Idea
  • New Idea Food
  • Practical Parenting

Our Network

  • marie claire
  • Beauty Crew
  • Who
  • Women's Weekly Food
  • Bounty Parents
  • That’s Life
  • Perth Now
  • The West Australian
  • 7Plus
  • 7mate
  • 7NEWS
  • 7Sport
  • Sunrise
  • Starts at 60
  • Hard to Find
© 2022 Are Media PTY LTD
All products are independently selected, tested or recommended by our team of experts.If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Get more from Better Homes and Gardens

Magazine Subscription Offer

Treat yourself to a subscription-Save up to 25%

Shop This Offer
Treat yourself to a subscription