Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'

Thanks for posting this picture. Looks like the perfect Acacia for smaller gardens.

Yep, they just came out this past spring here. We sold them at our garden center and they were a BIG hit! Supposed to stay short and bushy. We shall see, sometimes new introductions don't live up to the hype, but I hope they do because they are very cute!

Thanks for the info. I'm hoping I can find it at a local nursery. The size is supposed to be 2-3' tall and 4-6' wide. (p.s. love the name "Cousin Itt"!)

My husband and I both fell in love with the plant. We spent a pretty penny ($30 each) three years ago to put in about seven of them. Unfortunately, in our garden they did not stay dense and bushy after the first year; they became open and lost most of their beautiful form. I ended up eventually yanking them out. :( It was as if the nursery plants have been treated with a growth regulator. But I don't know if that was the case.

That is very possible. It's a well known "secret" of the retail horticultural business. Almost 99% of bedding and perennials sold in 6-packs and 4" pots are treated with PGR. It's how they keep them short and a uniform height while still blooming. The public unknowingly rather demands it as it's been shown over and over that they just will not buy them if they are not blooming, even though it's better to put in a plant that has not bloomed yet from those sized pots. Anyone here who's grow from their own seeds knows that. But the general public wants to see the flowers before buying and PGRs do that.

I would not be surprised if the practiced has extended to some shrubs now, especially newly introduced ones like "Cousin Itt". I hope not, but Gyr_falcon's experience could be the case.

Unless...They were planted in shade or part-shade. They do need full sun, and any full sun plant will stretch and thin out in a shady area.

They were growing in areas with plenty of sunlight. Some were in locations that had a bit of protection for a few hours during the hottest part of the day, but it was still bright enough to not even count as shade. Our soil is sandy, so they didn't get water logged.

It could be just our yard. We have had some tough plants fail in our garden, even though they thrive in the surrounding neighborhood. Much of our yard had a concrete surface for decades, and we have noticed that some species (bougainvillea, salvia, passion vines) will thrive for a couple of years, then quickly decline and die. I call it the three year curse. Other species thrive without missing a beat, but the failure species seem to continue to fail after multiple attempts. The former owner hated plants, so who knows what he did to the soil before resorting to the concrete. It could be the Itts just fall into the fail group, although a number of other Australian shrubs show no ill effects.

Interesting. About the growth hormones on pony pacs/4" pots. Who would have thought?! I bought a 6-pac of Gomphrena a month ago, not labeled as dwarf. They are still about 4 inches tall. Aughh.

And a concrete yard. I guess the jackhammer got a workout.

My Cousin Itt did the same thing--he went bald on top. A professional grower told me they don't like So Cal; another pro told me they like plenty of water but sharp drainage and rich soil. Not sure which one was right.

Well, that makes me feel a bit better that they didn't like SoCal, rather than just not liking me! :) I love their look, but it was a more expensive mistake than usual. Even the three Camellia x Elina Cascades I tried to baby here only took my wallet for an $80 ride. My husband is a bad influence. When I am unsure of a plant, I usually just purchase one. If he is taken with something, he wants to buy multiples---which means, $ ding x however much he likes them.

Probably
both, as lots of areas of CA, north and south, have heavy clay soil
and somewhat hard water. So drainage is often an issue, as well as high pH.

And
to me "sharp drainage" and "rich soil" seem
opposite. But then I interpret sharp drainage as sandy, gritty soil,
which isn't rich, usually. Rich soil can drain well, but I don't
think of it as sharp drainage, however, it does usually have a lower pH.

Anyway, that's too bad about "Cousin Itt". I had high hopes for it as a new introduction. Sad to hear it's not really good for our soil and dry weather. Strange though as most other acacias tend to grow like weeds all over California, and are usually pretty drought tolerant.

My garden has sharp drainage but rich soil, being on a hill of silty loam.

Interesting comment found about an A. cognata selection: "that retains its foliage along the stem as it matures. " So perhaps 'Cousin Itt' going bald is normal for the species. It could be that continuous new growth is the way around the baldness issue, which would imply some good amount of water. Maybe.

All sorts of A. cognata selections