PlantFiles: Smoke Tree
Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'

I'm not an accomplished gardener but I do love to see things grow. In the fall of 2010, I had landscaping done around my suburban Tulsa, OK home and had a Royal Purple Smoke Tree planted in my back yard in full sun. OK had a dismally hot summer in 2011 and a warm winter 2011-12. This spring, my tree went crazy! It has more blooms than ever. It is about 3X the size it was when planted 1.5 years ago. It's beautiful, though it has not kept a deep purple color in its leaves, except for new leaves. I love it! It gets watered regularly with the yard sprinklers but last year I watered it profusely in hopes it would stand the heat. It did! I have pruned it a couple of times since planting but it grows profusely.

I simply love this tree....it is sooooo gorgeous.
I recently visited my daughter in Washington state....had to have this one. Purchased 3....2 purple smoke and 1 golden.
I have had them for 6 weeks....so far all are doing well. I did not put them directly in the ground because of the intense heat here in Ormond Beach Florida. They are thriving in pots...so far so good...will keep you posted.
Eretta
Ormond Beach, Fl.

This "tree" (bush) grew well to about 6 feet for perhaps five years. It seemed to die completely, for no apparent reason, at the end of 2010 but now in the spring of 2011 is throwing new leaves from the base.

I live in the coastal foothills of Oregon and get about 60 inches of rain. It is planted in the sunniest spot available.

Royal Purple Smoke tree is a wonderful, but it does not like the intense heat of the Southeast unless you are elevated in the mountains..i live in the piedmont of nc where it is fairly flat and hot, and it almost never blooms for me because it gets cooked to death almost every year by the intense heat..make sure if your in a hot area of the country to plant it in a shady area and also maybe a roomy one where it can get big..mike.

I have this tree in my yard. The house is a new purchase and it is planted about 6 feet from the house. What is the root system of this tree like?

Wonderful, hardy little tree. Grows well here in Oregon in sunny locations.

Most of my experience with it is where I grew up in the rural areas of Yakima, WA. It grows wild there; my mother dug up a tree growing in a pasture, and with our care went from 3 feet to 6 feet in about 2 years. They seem to thrive in the Eastern Washington climate of typically cold, dry winters with plenty of snow, warm but windy springs and hot, dry summers. By April, they're fully leafed and the smoky buds are profuse and ready to explode.

In Oregon they're a bit more reserved unless they're in a sunny location (sun almost all day) and the spring isn't too wet. This year (2010) for example, it's almost mid April, we've had far more rain and cloudy days than sunny, and the leaf buds are just starting to open on my small tree. It's taken 2 years to go from an 18" start from my mother's yard to not quite 3 feet in an area that gets 6 hours of sun. The smoky flowers are much smaller than I remember from my mother's tree.

I've found they start from seed easily enough, but if you're in an area that they seem to grow wild in, taking a sample seems the way to go. I see several on my daily walks along the banks of the Columbia River.

Love these unique trees...they definitely add a lot of character to any garden, with they're pale grey branches, dark burgandy leaves and the smoky blooms.

I just love the foliage of this shrub, red purple on top with greenish underside that show in the breeze.
It suffers quite a bit of die back here in zone 5a but since I do not really admire the smoke that is produced on last year growth, it is fine with me.
I cut it back about one foot from the ground in early Spring. By the end of Summer it is full and at least 6 feet tall with large healthy leaves that really stand out. If you like purple foliage in your landscape, do consider this shrub.

Planted 2 Purple Leaf Smoke trees 3 yrs. ago and they are beautiful. They are close to 6ft. tall. But would prefer that they not grow any taller. They bloomed about 3 weeks ago, and is now the time to prune them? So hope you can answer my question. Thank you Lila pearliescot@yahoo.com

I have a purple smoke tree planted for about five years. Nice shape and color but it never maintains its bloom and I have no "smoke" look. It blooms every year but loses it all within a week and I am left with a spindly stick instead of bloom. I thought it was deer damage or early frost but have ruled that out.

I love this plant. I never really saw it in Illinois, but here in Ohio it is popular. By looking at its characteristics I am guessing relatively fast.

Years ago, my gosh, I believe it was probably 1995, I bought two dinky little wanna-be sticks about six inches tall from a company through the mail. Thank goodness for Dave's Garden Watchdog these days.

Anyhow. I planted the trees and basically ignored them for the last twelve years. They have done nothing more than survive, which makes me all the happier, because today is moving day for them.

If they can survive being stuck out in an unattended section of the circle drive through drought, ice storms, surprise spring frosts and worse, then just think what beauty is ours to behold once they are transplanted!

In digging, I was shocked to see what a minimal root system they had. Keep in mind they have not been cared for, so I'm certain a tree with proper upkeep would have a much larger rooting.

I'd have to say these little guys deserve a place in the landscape. One is now proudly standing in my daylily circle garden and the other one, well, as soon as I finish my tea break I'll dig him up for relocation as well.

:-) Karen Marie

What a most beautiful leaf colour!!!!
It needs to be pruned well, if left unattended it can grow in an ugly form. My neighbours didn't prune theirs, and it looks monstrous!

I am trying to propagate a few cuttings. I have put root start medium on them. I guess the only thing left to do is tent them (and create a greenhouse effect.)

I am trying to propagate a Smoke Tree from cuttings. I have placed the cuttings in various combinations such as plain water, fertilized water, soil. I have placed the cuttings under lights indoors. So far I have not had any good results in producing roots on the cuttings. The leaves are drying out and the cuttings are looking very poor.

A lovely tree. I like the color of the foliage and I wish it would keep its leaves year-round; they fall too soon for me.

The nice thing on the 'Smoke' is that it takes well to pruning. If left alone it is a very pretty 15 foot or so tree. For the space challenged... pruned back to about 12 inches every spring it makes a gorgeous shrub.

The only thing a can fine wrong w/ it is that it does lose its leaves very early here, even earlier than the Black Walnuts. But that can be a plus to anything planted beneath them.