Purple Smoke Bush Pruning

Smoke trees tend to have a rangy splayed growth habit.

Purple smoke bush pruning. In general this plant is a specimen type plant that will need some pruning. Either way this species has a rangy growth habit and should be pruned yearly to maintain a more compact shape. How to prune a purple smoke tree. Smoke bush cotinus coggygria is a deciduous shrub that s also commonly known as royal purple smoke bush smokebush smoke tree and purple smoke tree.

Pruning overgrown smoke bush. And a spread of 15 ft. Alternatively prune to thin it removing up to one third of the oldest misshapen and unproductive stems. Prune a smoke bush back to stands 12 to18 inches above ground for subsequent years.

Smoke bush is often used as a garden specimen thanks to its beautiful purple pink smokey plumes and the purple leaves found on some cultivars. As you can see our pruning efforts had the opposite effect that we d planned. Some of the varietals such as royal purple or young lady are smaller with a mature height and width of 2 5 m. It is often used as a.

A haze of seed bearing puffs float over the leaves of the purple smoke tree cotinus coggygria also known as the smoke bush or venetian sumac. The difference in last summer s tree growth and this summer s is crazy check out this side by side comparison. It can reach a height of 15 ft. Growing 10 to 15.

Only prune in early spring before the plant leafs out. Pruning smoke trees annually will help make the plant more compact and strengthen the limbs. The smoke bush or cotinus coggygria is a large deciduous broad leaved shrub that requires full sun to partial shade. Instead of keeping the smoke tree nicely shaped and at a reasonable size we seem to have created an even more out of control growth situation.

Pruning is very important to the overall look of the plant because it grows in a rather erratic pattern. Smoke tree is an ornamental shrub to small tree that is grown for the bright purple or yellow leaves and the spring flowers that mature and puff out as if they were clouds of smoke. The name smoke bush is derived from the fine filament clusters or smoky plumes that appear on the bush during the summer.