Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’
Overview
Uses: Specimen plantings, mixed borders, informal screens, and foliage contrast.
Benefits: The classic purple smokebush, with rich wine-purple leaves all season and airy, smoke-like plumes in summer. Foliage turns red and orange in fall. Tough, drought tolerant, and can be cut back hard each spring to keep it smaller.
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5–8
Sun: Full Sun
Life Cycle: Deciduous Shrub
Growth Habit: Upright, Rounded — open and multi-stemmed.
Bloom Color: Purplish-Pink plumes
Foliage Color: Deep Wine-Purple, turning Red and Orange in fall
Mature Height: 10–15 feet
Mature Width: 10–12 feet
Bloom Season: Summer
Growth Rate: Moderate
Summary
Deep wine-purple leaves and summer clouds of smoky pink make this one of the most dramatic shrubs you can plant.
‘Royal Purple’ is the standard by which other purple smokebushes are judged. Its rounded leaves open a rich, dark wine-purple in spring and hold that color through summer, giving a mixed planting a deep, solid backdrop. Gold, chartreuse, and silver plants look brighter beside it, and so do pink and white flowers.
In early summer the plant produces its namesake “smoke”: large, airy plumes of fine pinkish-purple hairs that cover the branches and make the whole shrub look hazy from a distance. In fall the foliage turns red and orange before dropping.
Left to grow, it forms a broad, multi-stemmed shrub ten to fifteen feet tall and nearly as wide, a true specimen for a lawn or the back of a large border. It can also be cut back hard each spring to keep it much smaller. Once established it handles heat, poor soil, and dry spells with little complaint.
Care
Royal Purple Smokebush Care
Plant in full sun. Sun keeps the leaves at their deepest purple; in shade the color fades toward green and the plant grows thin.
Smokebush grows in average to poor soil as long as it drains well. It tolerates clay, rocky ground, and a range of pH, but it does not like soggy, poorly drained sites.
Water deeply once or twice a week through the first growing season while roots establish. After that, plants are notably drought tolerant and usually need water only during extended dry periods.
Feeding needs are light. One application of a slow release fertilizer in early spring is enough, and plants in reasonable soil often need none. Rich soil and heavy feeding tend to produce soft, floppy growth.
Prune in late winter or early spring. For a full-size shrub with plumes, simply remove dead, crossing, or wayward branches. To keep it small, cut the stems back hard, to a foot or two above the ground, each spring. Hard-pruned plants produce larger, more richly colored leaves but few or no plumes that year, because the plumes form on older wood.
Size
What Size is the Royal Purple Smokebush for Sale Online?
Our Royal Purple Smokebush ships in a greenhouse-grade grow pot and is appropriately sized for its container at the time of shipment. Plants ship dormant or near dormant in the off-season, so they may arrive with few or no leaves. If you have specific sizing or planting questions, please contact us.
How Large Does Royal Purple Smokebush Grow?
Left unpruned, expect about 10 to 15 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide at maturity, in a broad, rounded, multi-stemmed shape. Plants cut back hard each spring stay much smaller, regrowing to a fraction of that size each season. Give an unpruned plant plenty of room, about 10 feet from other shrubs or structures.
Additional Information
What are some common names for this plant?
- Smokebush
- Smoke tree
- European smoketree
Why is it called a smokebush?
The “smoke” is not the flowers themselves. After the small flowers fade, the stalks that held them grow long, fine, feathery hairs. Massed together across the plant, those plumes look like puffs of pink-purple smoke and last for weeks in summer. For more shrubs with standout foliage and form, see our Shrubs & Bushes.
Can I keep it smaller?
Yes. Cutting the stems back hard each spring keeps it to a much smaller, bushier shrub with especially large, dark leaves. The tradeoff is that hard-pruned plants produce few or no plumes, so choose based on whether you want it mainly for foliage or for the full summer smoke display.
Is it drought tolerant and deer resistant?
Yes to both, once established. Smokebush handles hot, dry summers in lean soil, and deer usually leave it alone. No plant is entirely deer proof when food is scarce. Explore more Drought-Tolerant Plants and Deer-Resistant Shrubs and Evergreens.
