Cotinus Royal Purple - The Magnificent Smoke Bush
Overview
Cotinus Royal Purple, commonly known as the Purple Smoke Bush or Purple Smoke Tree, is one of the most dramatically coloured shrubs available for British gardens. This outstanding deciduous plant produces rich, deep purple foliage that maintains its intensity throughout the growing season, creating a striking focal point in any landscape. In summer, mature plants develop characteristic feathery, smoke-like flower plumes that give the plant its common name, creating an almost mystical appearance. The combination of spectacular foliage colour, unique flowering display, and brilliant autumn colour makes Royal Purple an exceptional choice for gardeners seeking year-round drama.
Key Features
Intense Purple Foliage: Deep wine-red to purple leaves that maintain their rich colour throughout spring and summer, darkening further in strong sunlight.
Spectacular Smoke-like Flowers: Produces distinctive feathery, pinkish-purple flower plumes in summer that create the characteristic "smoke" effect.
Outstanding Autumn Colour: Foliage transforms to brilliant oranges, reds, and scarlets before falling, providing stunning seasonal climax.
Vigorous Growth: Fast-growing shrub that quickly establishes and fills space, perfect for new gardens requiring immediate impact.
Excellent Cut Foliage: Both leaves and flower plumes are excellent for floral arrangements and last well when cut.
Adaptable Nature: Tolerates a wide range of growing conditions whilst maintaining superior performance.
Growing Conditions
Soil Requirements: Thrives in most well-draining soil types including chalk, clay, and sandy soils. Particularly tolerates alkaline conditions well.
Light Needs: Best colour development occurs in full sun, though tolerates partial shade with slightly less intense purple colouring.
Climate Suitability: Fully hardy throughout the UK and withstands harsh weather including strong winds and severe frost.
pH Tolerance: Grows well in both acidic and alkaline soils, making it suitable for virtually any garden situation.
Drought Tolerance: Once established, remarkably tolerant of dry conditions, though benefits from occasional deep watering during extended droughts.
Size and Growth
Mature Height: Typically reaches 3-4 metres in height, occasionally taller in ideal conditions or if left unpruned.
Spread: Forms a broad, rounded shrub approximately 3-4 metres wide at maturity.
Growth Rate: Fast-growing, often achieving 60-90cm of growth per year when young and vigorous.
Form: Develops naturally into a rounded, bushy shape with multiple stems arising from the base.
Planting and Care
Best Planting Time: Plant from autumn through to early spring when the plant is dormant, avoiding periods of hard frost.
Spacing: Allow 3-4 metres between plants for individual specimens, or plant closer for screening purposes.
Watering: Water regularly during the first growing season to establish strong roots. Once mature, very drought-tolerant.
Mulching: Apply organic mulch annually to retain moisture, suppress weeds, and improve soil structure around the base.
Feeding: Generally unnecessary as cotinus thrives in poor soils, though young plants can benefit from balanced fertiliser in spring.
Pruning and Maintenance
Pruning Options: Can be grown as a natural shrub with minimal pruning, or coppiced annually for larger, more colourful leaves.
Coppicing Benefits: Hard pruning in early spring (cutting back to 30cm stumps) produces vigorous shoots with much larger, more intensely coloured leaves.
Natural Growth: If left unpruned, develops into a large shrub that flowers more reliably and shows the full smoke effect.
Timing: Any pruning should be carried out in late winter or early spring before growth begins.
Seasonal Interest
Spring: Fresh purple foliage emerges, initially wine-red deepening to rich purple as it matures.
Summer: Peak colour period with deep purple leaves and the development of characteristic feathery flower plumes on mature, unpruned plants.
Autumn: Spectacular transformation as leaves turn brilliant shades of orange, red, and scarlet, often lasting several weeks.
Winter: Attractive bare stems with interesting bark texture, particularly noticeable on multi-stemmed specimens.
Ideal Uses
Specimen Planting: Creates a dramatic focal point in mixed borders or as a standalone feature.
Colour Contrasts: Provides striking contrast when planted with silver, yellow, or bright green foliage plants.
Background Planting: Excellent backdrop for lighter-coloured flowers and foliage in mixed borders.
Screening: Fast growth makes it suitable for informal hedging or screening purposes.
Cut Flower Gardens: Both foliage and flowers are highly valued for floral arrangements.
Autumn Gardens: Essential plant for gardens designed around autumn colour themes.
Wildlife Value
The flowers attract a wide range of pollinating insects including bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects. Birds appreciate the cover provided by the dense branching structure, and the seeds (when produced) provide food for various bird species. The plant supports several moth species whose caterpillars feed on the foliage.
Companion Plants
Royal Purple pairs magnificently with golden or silver foliage plants such as golden elderberry, silver artemisia, or golden privet. White or cream flowers create stunning contrasts - try planting with white roses, philadelphus, or white-flowered clematis. Ornamental grasses and other purple-leaved plants can create harmonious themed plantings.
Container Growing
While naturally a large shrub, Royal Purple can be grown in containers if regularly pruned or coppiced. Use large containers (minimum 60cm diameter) and expect to repot every few years. Container plants will need regular watering and annual feeding.
Maintenance Requirements
Cotinus Royal Purple is remarkably low-maintenance once established. The main decisions involve pruning strategy - whether to allow natural development for flowers or coppice for enhanced foliage. Remove any dead or damaged wood annually, and thin overcrowded growth if necessary.
Smoke Effect Considerations
Flowering Requirements: The characteristic smoke effect only occurs on mature, unpruned plants (usually 3+ years old).
Gender Considerations: Female plants generally produce better smoke effects than males, though this isn't usually specified when purchasing.
Climate Impact: Hot, dry summers tend to produce better flowering and more pronounced smoke effects.
Pruning Trade-off: Annual coppicing prevents flowering but produces dramatically larger, more colourful leaves.
Important Considerations
Size Management: Can become quite large if unpruned - ensure adequate space or plan for regular pruning.
Suckering: May produce suckers from the base, which can be removed or allowed to develop for a multi-stemmed effect.
Leaf Size Variation: Leaf size varies dramatically depending on pruning regime - coppiced plants have much larger leaves.
Smoke Effect Timing: The smoke effect typically occurs in mid to late summer on unpruned, mature plants.
Seasonal Care Calendar
Early Spring: Carry out any necessary pruning or coppicing before growth begins.
Late Spring: Apply mulch and feed young plants if desired.
Summer: Enjoy peak colour and flowering display. Water during extended dry periods.
Autumn: Appreciate spectacular autumn colour transformation.
Winter: Plan pruning strategy for following year based on desired effect.
Summary
Cotinus Royal Purple is an exceptional choice for gardeners seeking dramatic colour and unique flowering effects with minimal maintenance requirements. Its combination of intense purple foliage, distinctive summer flowers, and spectacular autumn colour provides three seasons of outstanding garden interest. The flexibility to grow it as either a natural flowering shrub or a coppiced foliage plant allows gardeners to tailor its appearance to their specific needs. Fast growth, excellent hardiness, and adaptability to various conditions make Royal Purple suitable for virtually any garden where space allows for its ultimate size.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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