Hardiness zones:
Sunset 8, 9, 13-24
USDA 9-11
Landscape Use: Serviceable, upright, accent tree, usually single or sometimes multiple trunk, good tree for more narrow vertical spaces, patio tree, streetscape tree, background, screen, xeric or oasis landscapes.
Form & Character: Evergreen medium size tree, graceful, weeping with mostly strong vertical form, yet form and shape can be variable because of seed propagation
Growth Habit: Vigorous and fast growing tree, upright to 50' with less than equal spread. Major branches are acutely upright, but branch ends are pendulous.
Foliage/texture: Phyllodes are lanceolate to linear, ranging in color from light gray-green to glaucous blue-green, 6-10" long, sometimes cork screw like, trunk generally grayish brown, smooth when young, weak wooded, medium fine texture
Flowers & fruits: Numerous, clustered raceme (15-25) of yellow-green to cream flowers in globular heads on glabrous to mealy peduncles 0.5" long in axillary racemes, rarely 1-2 flower heads in the phyllode axils. Fruits are pods of variable lengths, 1"-5" long to 1/2" wide, somewhat constricted between seeds, sometimes flattened, sometimes curled.
Seasonal color: Light visual display of flowers in during winter, sometimes beginning as early as late November.
Temperature: Hardy to 16oF
Light: Full sun
Soil: Tolerant of most local soil types, though tends to thrive less in poorly drained soils
Watering: Infrequent deep irrigations; use water application volume to control growth rate
Pruning: Elevate the canopy base of this tree if it is planted in areas with pedestrian or vehicular traffic in order to counteract its dominate pendulous habit. Also, weeping acacia needs rigorous training (often staking) when young to establish a self-supporting, structurally strong and upright habit as young stems and branches are pendulous and tend to cross over one another.
Propagation: Germinates readily after acid scarification. Like other Acacia species, weeping acacia can reseed in Phoenix urban landscapes.
Disease and pests: Numerous root rot pathogens infect plant roots if soil is excessively wet or poorly drained.
Additional comments: Latin "salicis" means pendulous to willow-like habit. Weeping acacia is a useful tree in urban landscapes because of upright, generally cylindrical form. Young trees are weak-wooded, vigorously growing and prone to wind damage during summer monsoon storms. Strengthen wood by watering less frequently to slow growth. Acacia is a genus with over 1350 species and more than 2000 published botanical names. There are over 960 species of Acacia in Australia alone.
