smoke bush
By Gardentress
VA,
United States 
I live in zone 7. I have a smoke bush that I purchased last year. It is now a tree, nearly 6 feet tall, but very leggy. It looks odd and has difficulty staying up as the branch cant hold the weight of the foliage.
I am so tempted to just cut it completely back, but not sure if this would severly damage the bush or in my case tree. It is a purple smoke bush, i think continuous.
thanks in advance to your time and expertise!!
gardentress
23 May, 2008
Answers
Yes it is possible to cut them hard back in early spring. I thought I had butchered mine earlier this year but it is looking OK now. The moral is to cut it back more regularly to stop it getting so leggy, and I should take my own advice!
28 May, 2008
It's too late to cut it back this year - but these trees/shrubs (Cotinus coggyria purpurea) do respond to hard pruning in early spring, then you get larger leaves on a smaller shrub (it does stop the shrub producung flowers, though).
23 May, 2008