Acacia baileyana prostrate form (Cootamundra Wattle)
3 Comments »Wednesday January 28th, 2009
Acacia baileyana prostrate form (Cootamundra Wattle)
The prostrate form of Acacia baileyana is a lovely form of the taller tree. Even without flowers, the dense, grey green foliage is attractive in a garden setting. It cascades over slopes and follows the contour of the ground and it is excellent for covering large areas as a ground cover as it grows 30-60 cm tall and 3-4 metres wide. It has bright yellow flowers from winter to spring. It is a very hardy plant in most situations, withstanding dry periods and growing in full sun to part shade in sand, clay or loam.
A photo of the larger form in flower can be seen here.
I would like to know where or how i could get a acacia baileyana prostrate form Cootamundra wattle
I have what I think is a Cootamundra Wattle, prostrate – or at least sem-prostrate (if there is such a plant). The plant, as I understand ‘prostrate’ is not ground cover, nor is it as low as it appears in many of the images I’ve viewed.
There is a distinct trunk, about 100mm diameter, up to about 600mm mm high, with branches in all directions.
Its foliage I find difficult to describe – I’m not a gardener at all – but it is ‘bluish’ and carries the ‘usual’ wattle flowers in late winter into spring.
It seems a vigorous, hardy plant and has survived some pretty heavy frosts in Kenthurst, NSW. Some have mentioned that it may be a ‘grafted’ variety.
Its canopy ‘spread’ is about 2.5m in diameter and overall height is around 1m. It’s growing in pretty rich soil, which I brought in. As I understand soil, it’s not’native’ stuff.
It is pruned a couple of times each year, to keep its shape and to eliminate the ‘drooping’ fronds, which tend to get a bit woody and inhibit trimming. It’s in an elevated, brick. garden bed, about 300mm above surrounding ground level.
I’d like to source about ten more small plants of the same variety: could you advise where, in Sydney, these may be available?
Thank you
Warwick Cuneo
Hi Warwick,
What you describe is typical of plants grown from the seed of A. cootamundra prostrate form. There are varying heights which cascade to lay quite flat on the ground. I don’t know Sydney nurseries. Seed is available from Nindethana Seed Co. which has an on-line website. You will not be likely to get identical plants but will get prostrate forms. It is also reasonably drought tolerant after establishment. Also try Peter Lang at Mildura. Some Acacias can be grown from cuttings to preserve desirable characteristics.