Cheery Acacias
Leigh Murray
We grow a lot of acacias because many are wonderfully tolerant of drought, frost and salt winds, and a lot of them are remarkably beautiful. They uplift our spirits when they're flowering. We love them. Some of our favourites are Acacia boormanii, A.howittii, A.pycnantha, A.implexa, A.iteaphylla, A.rubida, A.montana, A.wilhelmiana, A.spectabilis, A.drummondii and A.genistifolia. Many birds enjoy acacia seeds, especially those of A.rubida (rosellas and cockatoos) and A.boormanii (pigeons). Insects and honeyeaters fancy the nectar produced by glands at the base of the leaves of A.pycnantha and A.implexa.
Indigenous to our few hilly, well-drained acres at Queanbeyan are A.rubida, A.implexa, A.mearnsii, A.genistifolia and A.dawsonii. A.doratoxylon grows further down our ridge, and A.pycnantha occurs naturally on a nearby hillside. All of these grow well in the shaly soil, and they're tough. Others that thrive at Queanbeyan include A.howittii with its gorgeous weeping habit (we have one that's about 6 metres tall), A.iteaphylla, A.covenyi, A.vestita, A.spectabilis and A.pravissima. At Tuross Head, A.sophorae is indigenous, and we've planted A.implexa, A.covenyi, A.pycnantha, A.boormanii, A.rubida and A.drummondii.
A.rubida is handsome when kept well pruned and tidy, with red stems and ferny foliage. It grows as a shrub of a few metres high and wide, or it can be trained on a clean trunk as a small tree. Its main pest problem is borer, which kills plants after maybe 10 years or so, although well-cared for plants seem less susceptible to this pest and usually last longer. As a bonus of the borer-ridden plants, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos regard the borers as a delicacy, and will rip open trunks to get at them. It's such a joy having the birds at our place that we don't begrudge them the odd ripped rubida.
A.implexa forms a slender tree of up to about 8 metres, rather sparse and open at Queanbeyan but dense at Tuross Head, where I planted them as tall screens - kept well-pruned (to stop them reaching for the sky), they do a splendid job. They have cream ball flowers in summer, an unusual time for an acacia. They're popular with birds, especially the small fry such as thornbills and wrens. A.mearnsii is a large shrub or small bushy tree that bears strongly-scented cream ball flowers in early summer. A.doratoxylon grows as a small slender tree at Queanbeyan (rather like A.implexa) as does A.pycnantha, which can look spectacular in flower. It's not our national floral emblem for nothing! Both are very hardy indeed.
A.genistifolia is a small prickly shrub, very slow-growing. Our plants are too small to provide the protection for little birds that they might do if they ever reach their maximum size of a metre or so high and wide. They flower early, in winter, with cream ball flowers. A.dawsonii is another small, local shrub that grows slowly; it flowers in spring with bright yellow flowers. Smallish non-indigenous acacias that grow well at Queanbeyan include A.montana and A.wilhelmiana; both are useful low screening shrubs. At Tuross, A.drummondii is thriving in a sheltered, rather shady spot, and it flowers magnificently each spring with gold rod flowers.
For sheer showiness, it's hard to go past A.boormanii and A.spectabilis. They stop us in our tracks with their brilliant displays of bright yellow ball flowers. The flowers of A.boormanii even last well after rain, and its seeds are said to be a favourite food of Common Bronzewing Pigeons (of which we have quite a few). It has a slender habit, which is handy for tall screens in tight spots. It also has a tendency to sucker, a feature that is often useful and has never proved a nuisance in our conditions. A.spectabilis grows as a slender, graceful tree, with grey ferny foliage and stunning flower displays. For striking foliage, A.covenyi, with light grey foliage, is one of the best. It grows as a gangly tree at Queanbeyan, and as a large dense shrub at Tuross. We also love the purple foliage of A.baileyana "purpurea", which has never seeded at our place, and doesn't show the weed potential of the normal A.baileyana.
A.iteaphylla is a marvellously tough large shrub. It withstands the minus 7o frosts we get at Queanbeyan, and the heat and dryness of summer. It is one of our most drought-hardy plants, and it makes a splendid contribution to a windbreak. After we had to remove a large established plant that was poorly located on the boundary line, suckers came up from the stump. Two suckers were left to grow on, and the rest were dug up, potted up, and treated like cuttings until they sprouted new foliage, when they were planted out. Most survived, and they've grown steadily during the drought. Many forms of A.iteaphylla are weeping; a few are more upright. One smallish form flowers on and off throughout the year. A.howitti is another favourite of ours, but it is not as tough as A.iteaphylla. It definitely needs more moisture, and seems to prefer a more protected position. It grows as a tall, weeping shrub, with bright green foliage. A.pravissima also grows as a tall shrub, and likes similar conditions to A.howittii. We planted several A.vestita, and they've done well, spreading widely as large shrubs of maybe 2 metres tall by 4 metres wide, with a completely different habit to the much taller A.pravissima and A.howitti. A single A.cultriformis popped up at Queanbeyan, though we don't think it's indigenous. It's withstood very tough conditions.
Years ago, when drought was not an issue, we planted an A.melanoxylon. It grew into a large tree, and suckered vigorously over an area of several square metres. For twenty years it looked a 'happy chappy'. But then the recent drought began to bite, and eventually it died. It does, however, live on in its suckered offspring, although presumably if the conditions stay generally drier, they too will die.
Our acacias get their fair share of pests: borers, galls, scale and distorted foliage. These are usually easy to control, by such simple measures as pruning off scale and distorted foliage, leaving most galls, and ignoring the borers, which provide such good tucker for Black-Cockatoos. I try not to prune until the birds have feasted on the seeds, but then a good prune seems to be helpful to the plants, as does frequent tip pruning. Generally, our acacias could not be described as being short-lived (as acacias often are). Most of our Queanbeyan plants are more than 20 years old and going strong. They're terrific. Not only do they provide splendid screening but also they give great delight to us, and food and shelter to many birds.
From the newsletter of the Australian Native Plants Society (Canberra), March 2008.
Australian Plants online - 2008
Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants
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