THE WINTER WONDER OF
Acacia baileyana Acacia pravissima
■ Many acacias are happy in a conservatory but in a low-roofed one will soon be hi ing the glass. Fortunately, they accept hard pruning, although you may lose a season’s flowers. Grow in the largest pot you can and feed with half-strength tomato food.
■ The florists’ mimosa, Acacia dealbata (AGM), with silverygreen, ferny foliage and fragrant flowers in winter and spring, is the best pick for a conservatory but regular pruning may still be needed to keep it to size. The variety ‘Gaulois Astier’ is much more compact and flowers more freely.
■ Outside in the garden, acacias are proving increasingly hardy. This is partly because of climate change, partly because we’re trying a wider range of species and partly because we’re taking a chance, planting one, and seeing it thrive. And if they do get frosted, we don’t dig them up, we cut them back and wait – and they regrow.
■ In the garden, one or two will make exceptional small, freestanding winter-flowering trees and these are increasingly seen in towns, cities and suburbs – like the one in that London school yard. When the species you’d like to grow are a li le less hardy, or if you garden in a colder areas, acacias are best sited against a wall. That li le extra protection makes a huge difference.
■ Acacias generally prefer neutral or slightly acid soil, although some will tolerate lime. They also prefer good drainage and, if damaged by frost, they’ll spring pruning.
The best all-rounder with delightful, pre ily divided, evergreen, bluey-silver foliage and clouds of yellow flowers in winter. The variety ‘Purpurea’ has deep purple new growth that contrasts beautifully with the older, silvered foliage. This should be everyone’s first acacia, and makes a large shrub or small tree. H: 5m (16½ft).
A large, evergreen shrub or small tree, a li le thorny, and with large rather open heads of yellow flowers carried in the leaf joints in spring. One of the most tolerant of limy soils. H: 4m (13ft).