Cotinus ...... Smoke Bush ......

Oh I rather like this amy,

I want to make room for a green one.

well named plant - imagine seeing a large patch of these at a distance ...

Thanks all , this is huge Pp we have pruned it heavily other years ,if room is at a premium you may have to keep it trimmed it looks nice with the rain drops glittering on the 'Smoke '

Not got any smoke on ours yet Amy have put 3 new ones in 2 red and 1 yellow, hope they will get to 6 ft, when do you prune yours?

This is covered in 'Smoke ' it looks brilliant amongst the other shrubs ,I put a new purple one in this year Angela it's still quite small , I believe spring is the best pruning time for the Cotinus , I don't have any set time to prune this it's one of those shrubs that is so big it tends to over shadow any other shrubs near it ,what I do is just go round lopping off any branches that have become to big and heavy or are in the way of other shrubs , I think I am going to have to get tough with it next spring and give it a good going over .......

Thanks Amy, you are very lucky to have a large garden, all the shrubs we like, grow very large unfortunately, so we have to do a lot of pruning!!

looks like candy floss

I have the purple one Amy, but I think the green seems to Flower (smoke) better and later in the year than the purple. I would have to keep it well and truly in line.

It's nice Angela but we often find it hard work these days you feel that you have to constantly be on top of it , yes it does Lilly :o) we had a purple one in our last garden Pp it died ! some one told us at that time that they don't survive our winters as well as the green one do you know if that's true ? I hope not because I would like my new one to grow here ....

My purple one is about 20 years old and up to this year was in a large pot..never had any trouble with it. I think you were just unlucky. They grow with out any problem.

They are such lovely shrubs/trees? I have a green one and a red/black one which the puppies broke 3 branches off of when they were about 3 months old!
Such an amazing sight when they flower.

Thats good news Pp , have you taken yours out of the pot and planted it in the ground ? Ah did you scold them Lulu ,I bet you didn't ,I bet they wagged their little tails at you :o))

I did this Amy.

http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/235736-new-raised-bed/member/pimpernel

Right I'm off to have a peep !

It only took me 5 months but I got there in the end LOL

Had a peep Pimp!
No point in scolding as they had run off. I just looked on in despair!
I have one green one that has spread a bit. Am thinking of cutting off the bottom branches to give it a chance to shoot up. Wish I could find a way to grow another smokebush from the cuttings but suppose it's the wrong time of year. I nearly did it last year. Took 3 cuttings and they lasted quite a while and then died off.

Have any of your lower branches layed themselves under the soil Lulu ? if so you might find one that has rooted ,in that case you could dig it up in the autumn ....

I will have a look. They are quite thick branches though!! Good idea.

Fantastic picture :)))

Thanks Kat :o)

Ooooh Amy love this picture, looks so soft and fluffy would love it but its to big for my garden;0)

Same here Carole, would love to have one though Amy.....