Wattle - Tumbleweed

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AUSTRALIAN SAIJIKI

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Wattle in bloom

***** Location: Australia
***** Season: Various, see below
***** Category:

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Explanation


We have some differing voices from poets of Australia:


mid-north coast of New South Wales

Wattle arrives at the end of winter and is spring's herald.

Contributed by Violette Rose-Jones, March 2009


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and another voice

Wattle blooms year round,
even in the region your contributor cites; wattle is NOT a sign of spring.


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Wattles bloom in Victoria from mid to late Winter... July-August, usually.
They are the floral emblem for the State of Victoria.


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Silver wattle (Acacia dealbata)


kigo for winter or spring ?


quote
Although the Australian bush does not experience the same seasonal extremes as Europe or America, it still shows some dramatic changes as winter approaches.

But among the grey there is an occasional burst of brilliant yellow that lights up the whole canopy. Thanks to the humble wattle tree, the winter landscape of the bush and of many Australian gardens glows with golden light, despite the cold weather. Up to a third of Australia's 960 species of wattle will flower in winter.
This winter blooming means that somewhere in Australia, no matter what time of year, a wattle is flowering, because they also flower in spring, summer and autumn.

Some of the best places to see wattle displays are in NSW and Victoria, particularly the Upper Hunter region of NSW, the Pilliga Scrub in northern NSW, and between East Gippsland in Victoria and the south coast of NSW.
They look spectacular with their massed yellow blooms brightening up the greenish-grey of the winter landscape.

The Acacia genus, which includes all the wattles, is the biggest group of trees and shrubs in Australia, topping even the eucalypts in diversity.

source : www.abc.net.au/science



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kigo for spring



National Wattle Day
First of September

Wattle Day's long and interesting history has been described in some detail by Maria Hitchcock in her delightful book simply entitled Wattle. Most of the following facts are sourced from Wattle, with permission from the author.

The first known use of wattle as a meaningful emblem in the Australian colonies dates back to the early days of Tasmania (1838), when the wearing of silver wattle sprigs was encouraged on the occasion of an anniversary celebration of the seventeenth century European discovery of the island.

Of course the original inhabitants of Australia had many uses for the wattle plant; the boomerang, for example, has created its own widespread meaning in the word itself and in its shape.

the formation in 1899 of a 'Wattle Club' in Victoria by Mr A. J. Campbell, . .

The first 'national' Wattle Day was celebrated in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide on the First of September 1910.

source : www.wattleday.asn.au


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Worldwide use

Japan

ゴールデン・ワトル
Golden Wattle (学名：Acacia pycnantha）

tumbleweed 転がり草 tengarigusa


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North America

In North America we have tumbleweeds in August or September, which is late summer or early fall mainly in the Southern midwestern states such as Texas and Oklahoma.

As you know, when the Spanish discovered the Americas, they explored for more than just gold. They found many species of plant cultivated by the Native Americans that they took back to Europe (tomatoes, potatoes, squash, chocolate, tobacco and sunflowers for instance). Conversely, the New England settlers brought seeds with them, including many medicinal herbs that have now naturalized on these continents (soapwort, Queen Anne's lace, dandelion, clover).

Tumbleweed, now a ubiquitous icon of the American west, sneaked in by ship from Russia.

Thus are we all connected!

Linda Papanicolaou


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. Tumbleweed - Mongolia .


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

wet day walk--
the pup's face yellow
with wattle pollen

wattle in bloom--
old mountain ash still furred
with moss

lorin of brunswick
WHCworldkigo


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Wattle Day -
perchance I find you
on September first

Gabi Greve, September 1, 2010


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Related words




AUSTRALIAN SAIJIKI


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