When we visited Clyde in Central Otago on 07 December we were delighted to see smoke bush is making a great show! The purple-leaved variety appears to be particularly popular (not surprising, it’s very showy) but I’ve also included a photo of a green-leaved smoke bush I noticed. New Zealand.
Cotinus or Smoke Bush
I’ve just found there’s European Cotinus coggygria and American Cotinus obovatus, and Cotinus ‘Grace’ is a cross between the two. I didn’t know that so I have to confess to knowing very little about Cotinus other than the Genus name! The article I was reading was by a curator from Dunedin Botanic Garden. She advises to hard-prune for larger leaves but this will result in loss of flowers for a time so if that’s an issue then lightly-prune .. and late winter/early spring is the recommended time to prune.
Cotinus photos, all of the one purple-leaved tree except for a green-leaved one I found not far away. Click on any photo to enlarge.
Pink smoke!
Wild-looking tree, the bright afternoon light not so great.
Closer detail.. photo by Nigel. The hedge is Photinia.
Cotinus with green foliage.
Back to the purple-leaved tree; I took this fun photo 🙂
~like a bug waving at me .. “Hi Liz!” 😀
Btw, yesterday Ann Mackay posted gorgeous autumn foliage photos of the Cotinus in her garden, lit up by evening sunshine. You really should go see them if you haven’t already!
Text/photos by Liz unless otherwise specified; Exploring Colour (2021)
Exploring Colour 
Wow
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Thanks for the link, Liz! It’s lovely to see you photographs of the dark foliage and pink wisps of ‘smoke’ – reminds me of summer. And I love your ‘bug’. Definitely a friendly one, hehe!
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Yes, very friendly! A very bobbly bug 😀
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