Botanical Name: Cotinus coggygria
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Common Name: Smoketree  
Plant photo of: Cotinus coggygria
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Water Saving Tip:

Change spray sprinklers to low-flow bubbler or drip systems. Shrubs and trees are ideal candidates for this type of irrigation because the water is applied directly to the root zones.

  • Anatomy

  • Culture

  • Design

Plant Type

Tree, Shrub

 

Height Range

6-12', 12-25'

 

Flower Color

Yellow

 

Flower Season

Spring

 

Leaf Color

Bronze, Blue Green, Purple

 

Bark Color

Grey

 

Fruit Color

n/a

 

Fruit Season

n/a

Information by: Stephanie Duer
Photographer: Steve Mullany
  • Description

  • Notes

Smoketree is a deciduous shrub with a multi-stemmed, upright habit, growing about 10 to 15 feet tall and wide. Can be pruned to be a small tree. Its common name is not from the tiny, insignificant, yellowish spring flowers, but from the billowy hairs (attached to elongated stalks on the spent flower clusters) which turn a smokey pink to purplish pink in summer, covering the tree with fluffy, hazy, smoke-like puffs. Bluish-green leaves are rounded. Several attractive purple-leaved cultivars of this species are available and are generally more popular landscape plants than the species. Fall color is highly variable, but at its best produces very attractive shades of yellow, orange, red and purplish-red.