A purple cultivar of the golden mimosa or Cootamundra wattle from New South Wales, Acacia baileyana Purpurea is a large, evergreen shrub or small tree with a rounded habit and dense, spreading branches. The rather fern-like leaves are deeply divided into tiny, narrow leaflets, and a gorgeous purplish-silver colour. In late winter and early spring, it bears masses of round, fluffy, bright yellow flowers with the delicious mimosa fragrance – lovely to bring into the house as a foretaste of spring. Only for coastal or other warm, sheltered sites, as it is vulnerable to all but a few degrees of frost. Purple Cootamundra wattle holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
