Old Fashioned Smoke Tree

‘Everything old is new again’, they say. That is definitely true with the Old-Fashioned Smoke Tree, which might sound like something your grandma had in her garden. In fact it is a recent variety that captures the old-fashioned charm of a simple plant, before breeders messed around and made it into a fashion statement. The smoke tree is a tough, reliable plant for filling areas of your garden with attractive foliage, and a tree in bloom really does look like a cloud of dusky pink smoke has settled over your bush. Easy to grow and vigorous, this plant is ideal as a specimen planted out on a lawn, where it can really show off, but it works just as well at the back of your beds. The Old-Fashioned Smoke Tree starts the year with a bright show of gray-tinted pink-purple new leaves, which change to a cool blue-green for summer and then turn fierce reds, purples and oranges in fall. Lots of color and very little work – the perfect plant for the busy gardener.

Growing the Old Fashioned Smoke Tree

Size and Appearance

The Old-Fashioned Smoke Tree is a rounded deciduous shrub, growing 6 or 8 feet tall, and spreading outwards to about 6 feet across. The branches are thick, and they grow out at broad angles, giving the tree a unique winter profile, almost like a set of antlers. This variety has nearly circular leaves, which are 3½ inches long and almost 3 inches across, with smooth edges and a slightly glossy surface. The new leaves in spring are a deep rich red, with overtones of gray-purple.

It is during the early summer months when this tree blooms. The actual flowers are tiny, greenish and inconspicuous, but they are carried in clusters of long, feather hairs that are a delicious smoky pink color. This creates the ’smoke’ that tops the plant all through June, giving it a completely unique look, like no other plant we know.

In summer the foliage matures to a very unusual blue green, which is the ‘old-fashioned’ thing about this plant. This cool color is very attractive to see during hot weather, and means your plant looks different, instead of being the same every day. As the cooler nights of fall arrive the leaves take on amazing colors of brilliant red, oranges and purples, and this is one of the most colorful fall shrubs available. It is easy to see what a varied picture this great plant paints in your garden through the changing seasons – never a dull moment.

Using the Old Fashioned Smoke Tree in Your Garden

This shrub is perfect to place out on a lawn, where it can grow to its mature size and become an attractive specimen plant. Grow it along the back of your shrub beds, for an ever-changing backdrop to your flowers. Create a screen or informal hedge to enclose your garden or use it to fill the empty corners of your yard. For a continuous screen allow about 4 feet between each plant and they will soon grow together.

Hardiness

The Old Fashioned Smoke Tree is completely hardy in zone 5 and in all warmer zones except for zone 9, so it can be grown across most of the country. Even in zone 4 it will usually survive, with some winter damage that can easily be pruned away, although it will be smaller, and it may not flower every year. Still, you can still enjoy its lovely foliage transformations.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

For good growth the Old Fashioned Smoke Tree should be grown in full sun, or in as much sun as possible. Too much shade will make the leaves greener, and the plant less bushy, with weaker growth. This tough shrub prefers drier, well-drained soils, including sandy soils, rough ground and urban soils. Avoid wet places, but water young plants weekly for the first summer – after that they will be very drought resistant.

Maintenance and Pruning

Although it can easily be pruned as needed in early spring, it is better to leave the Old Fashioned Smoke Tree to grow naturally, if you have allowed enough room. Unpruned plants flower best, and pruning often results in long, awkward stems developing, creating an ungainly looking plant. Remove the spent flower heads for neatness, although that isn’t necessary. Pests and diseases are almost unknown, and this is a very easy and reliable plant to grow, needing virtually no care at all.

History and Origin of the Old Fashioned Smoke Tree

The Smoke Tree, Cotinus coggygria, grows naturally in rocky and wild places, too tough for forests to develop, such as on hillsides and mountain slopes. It grows over a very large area, from Southern Europe eastward all the way to central China. It has been grown in European gardens for centuries, and almost as long in America. There is a rare native species, Cotinus obovata, growing in the south, which was used widely in the past for the dye in its wood. It is conceivable that it is in fact an escaped population of the European tree, derived from early settlements.

In the 1980s Henny Kolster, a nurseryman in Boskoop, The Netherlands, collected some seed from smoke trees he had growing, and raised a batch of seedlings. In 1989 he noticed one plant that had unusually large and round leaves, and unique foliage coloring. He selected it and grew more from stem pieces. Naming it ‘Old Fashioned’, he patented it in America in 2008.

Buying the Old Fashioned Smoke Tree at The Tree Center

We love the classic features of this tree, with its ever-changing leaf colors. It is a reliable and tough addition to your garden, that will amaze you with its versatility and charming smoke effect. These trees are always in high demand from gardeners who need tough plants, so order now, before our supplies run out.