Wattle Acacia dealbata

Silver wattle is the bigger, looser cousin of the Cootamundra. The bipinnate foliage is soft silver blue with a mealy white bloom over the young stems, the tree grows quickly to a real height, and in late winter the canopy carries masses of small golden balls with a scent that travels well past the garden boundary. It occurs naturally through south eastern Australia, including the Victorian high country and Tasmania, which explains its cold tolerance. Rural screening, shelter belts and quick cover on exposed blocks are the jobs it does.

The bigger, scented silver wattle

Cold country is where it beats most wattles: hard frost, snow, wind and poor soil are all within its range, and it wants full sun and little water once established. Drainage should be reasonable, but it is not fussy about fertility. The failure mode is suckering. Damage a root, run a trench, mow into the base or dig a new bed nearby, and the tree answers by throwing suckers, often well away from the trunk, which turns one tree into a thicket over a few seasons. That makes it a poor neighbour for paving, lawns, septic trenches and small gardens, and a useful plant on acreage where a thicket reads as shelter rather than as a nuisance. Two other things to plan for: the timber is brittle and sheds limbs in storms, and stressed trees attract borers, which show up as gum and sawdust around the base. It seeds itself readily onto disturbed ground as well, so it is not a tree for a bushland boundary, and it has become a problem in parts of Western Australia and in several countries where it was planted for shelter.

Paddock tree or tidy screen

Acacia baileyana is the obvious comparison: neater, smaller, bluer and non suckering, but with a real weed record outside its home range, so it is the pick for a tidy suburban screen away from bushland while dealbata suits the paddock. The other choice worth making is against river she-oak. If the shelterbelt has to last, the she-oak is the tree and the wattle is the nurse crop that shelters it through the first years and then comes out. Weeping myall is the third option and belongs on hot dry inland ground, where dealbata struggles with the heat and the alkaline soil. All of them sit with the other local species under natives.

Cuts, storms and light feeding

Prune after flowering and keep the cuts in green growth, since like other wattles it will not reliably reshoot from bare wood. Formative pruning is worth the trouble on this one, because a young tree trained to a single leader with well spaced branches holds up far better in storms than a crowded multi stemmed one. Remove broken limbs promptly and cleanly rather than leaving stubs for borers to work on. Feeding is rarely needed, as it fixes its own nitrogen; if you feed at all, use a low phosphorus native formulation in early spring. Deal with suckers by cutting them off below ground level, since mowing them over only multiplies them.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 3 sizes, from 70mm up to 45L, priced from $16.95 to $229.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. The smaller pots hold younger plants that cost less each and establish quickly, which suits hedges, screens and mass planting where the plant count adds up. The larger sizes carry several more years of growth on the farm and give height and presence straight away, which is what you want for a single feature position or a screen that cannot wait. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to Australian native trees.