First published at Gardeners Notebook by Bonnie Marie Hibbs
I was out in the garden and something yellow caught my eye. I discovered one of my Acacia baileyana, (common name Cootamundra Wattle), in flower. Estimating; I believe my tree is to a height of 4 meters tall and has a width of 3 meters. (Acacia’s are amongst the FABACEAE family, which is also made up of three sub-families.)
The foliage has what I call an ash green or even a silver blue colouring and pinnate leaves. The bark is smooth and dark brown, with a trunk diameter of 20cm.
Now, the most eye-catching, beautiful and magical thing about this tree is its inflorescent yellow flower chains. Globular flowers make up these impressive clusters of yellow. The flowers almost resemble a pom-pom with the amount of showy stamens, and only reach a length of 8mm in size.
If you are on the lookout for these trees they are usually found in the natural bushland and sometimes in nature reserves, or in your own backyard.