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

Sun

Full

 

Water

Low, Medium

 

Growth Rate

Moderate

 

Soil Type

Clay, Loam, Rocky, Unparticular

 

Soil Condition

Average, Rich, Poor, Well-drained, Dry

 

Soil pH

Neutral, Basic

 

Adverse Factors

n/a

Design Styles

English Cottage, Mediterranean, Ranch, Spanish, Native Garden

 

Accenting Features

Fall Color, Multi-trunk Tree, Showy Flowers, Specimen

 

Seasonal Interest

Winter, Summer, Fall

 

Location Uses

Background, Shrub Border, Foundation, Patio, Walls / Fences

 

Special Uses

Screen, Small Spaces

 

Attracts Wildlife

n/a

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.

Grow in full sun and well-drained soils; tolerates wide range of soils except wet, poorly-drained ones. Prefers somewhat infertile loams, but also does well in poor, rocky soils. Shallow fibrous root system makes it hard to grow anything but shallow-rooted groundcovers underneath. If bloom is not a concern, stems may be cut back hard in early spring each year to induce growth of vigorous new shoots with slightly larger than normal leaves. Such hard annual prunings will control size, but most likely at the expense of profuse flowering. Hard pruning is more often done on the purple-leaved cultivars as new foliage usually has the brightest color.