1 month ago
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January 15, 2026 — 4:04pm
They may call it mimosa in these parts, but there’s no doubt that the branch cluttered with fluffy golden pom-poms that has just landed at my feet is what we Aussies know to be our native wattle. Like those around me are doing, I pick the branch up and add it to the others I’ve already collected. The bouquet that’s forming will look fabulous in a vase in my lounge room.
It’s February on the Cote d’Azur and, whatever you want to call it, this stretch of French coastline has gone a little crazy for the plant, as it does every year during its winter flowering season. You’ll find mimosa-flavoured scoops on the menu at ice creameries, as well as mimosa-fragranced soaps and perfumes. It’s even the base for a locally distilled gin and pastis.
In fact, so synonymous is mimosa with winter that it powers the numerous corsos fleuris, or floral battles, held in traditional pre-Lenten celebration across the region. During Nice’s fortnight-long carnival, floats parade down the city’s emblematic Promenade des Anglais bearing people in folk costume tossing armfuls of the sweet-smelling flower into the crowd.
I only have to walk footsteps from my apartment down to the port of Villefranche-sur-Mer, where, during the annual Combat Naval Fleuri flower battle at sea, the region’s brightly coloured wooden fishing boats, called pointus, are decked out head to toe in mimosa. During the friendly “combat” that takes place, boat owners launch bunches of the plant like a shower of soft arrows towards a quayside audience. Once the boats are stripped of all their floral arsenal, spectators leave, clutching fragrant posies to take home.
The Cote d’Azur’s mild winter climate and quality of light not only inspired artists such as Matisse and Picasso but also persuaded train loads of early tourists to descend on it in search of off-season sunshine. Around the same time as French author Stephen Liegeard published his seminal tome, La Cote d’Azur, in 1887, thus giving the region its enduring name, wintering Brits made the journey south on the newly forged railway line with cuttings of acacia dealbata (or silver wattle) in their suitcases. The plant was soon thriving in similar growing conditions as it enjoyed back home in Australia.
The soft blush of its golden flowers light up the landscape between late December and early March all the way to the Italian border, but it’s the acidic soils where the Alpes-Maritimes meets the Var — France’s neighbouring, most south-easterly departments — where mimosa has particularly taken root. The mimosa forest in the massif de Tanneron, just behind Cannes, is the largest in Europe with more than 200 hectares of both wild and cultivated mimosa and long walking trails that are a delight to hike when the plant is in florescence. In the foothills below the mountain range, gardens in Pegomas still cultivate the crop that, at the height of the local trade in the 1920s, was exported as far away as Russia.
Both Tanneron and Pegomas are important waypoints along the Route du Mimosa, a 130-kilometre-long road trip between Bormes-les-Mimosas, a postcard-pretty Provencal village in the Var and Grasse, the world’s perfume capital in the Cannes hinterland.
The trip borrows the Corniche d’Or, a coastal road that wends through the mountains of the noble, ochre-red massif de l’Esterel range as it cascades into the Mediterranean Sea. The route’s appeal is evergreen, although in winter it glows under the touch of mimosa; stops along the way include Pepinieres Cavatore in Bormes-les-Mimosas, a nursery that doubles as the guardian of France’s national mimosa collection, Domaine du Rayol, considered one of France’s most remarkable gardens in Le Rayol-Canadel sur Mer, and Saint-Raphael where local chef Didier Carrie has crafted a menu of mimosa-infused treats, including a white chocolate truffle dusted in crystallised mimosa powder, at his restaurant Le Palet d’Or.
The undisputed mimosa capital, however, comes into sight around the 100-kilometre mark. Mandelieu-La Napoule, the breezy coastal resort that starts immediately where Cannes ends at its western hip, has been celebrating the flowering season since 1931 by throwing a festival in its honour, La Fete du Mimosa, complete with parades through the streets of mimosa-cloaked floats, fireworks and mimosa-infused artisanal and food markets.
It’s a five-day love letter to the plant that brightens winter moods — and that the French have Australia to thank for.
THE DETAILS
VISIT
The 2026 Carnaval de Nice runs from February 11 to March 1, 2026. See nicecarnaval.com
Villefranche-sur-Mer hosts the Combat Naval Fleuri on February 16, 2026. See explorenicecotedazur.com
The Fete du Mimosa takes place from February 11-15, 2026. See mandelieu-tourisme.com
FLY
Emirates flies daily from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Dubai, where you can connect for a direct flight to Nice. See emirates.com
STAY
A slice of Palm Springs on the Cote d’Azur, Hotel Casarose is a cheerful four-star hotel with all Mandelieu La-Napoule’s attractions on its doorstep. Doubles from €115. See hotelcasarose.fr
The Welcome Hotel in Villefranche-sur-Mer is the classic address in the village, having hosted the likes of Jean Cocteau over the decades. Book a room with a balcony for your own private viewing platform over the Combat Naval Fleuri. Doubles from €295. See welcomehotel.com
MORE
routedumimosa.com
explorenicecotedazur.com
The writer, who lives in France, travelled at her own expense.
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