Electronic smoke from cigarettes but not from these smoke bushes.

Red leaved plants seem to be doing very well in this wet summer. I spotted this healthy shrub at Harlow Carr on a recent visit. The name smoke bush comes from the clouds of very fine, fluffy, grey flowers that appear on panicles in such profusion that it looks like a cloud of smoke.

• This variety is probably Royal Purple both it and other Nocutts hybrids are easy to grow at home.
• Propagate by taking a spade to an existing shrub and chopping one piece out without lifting the plant. A sort of division in situ.
• They are deciduous shrubs and mine have a lax habit that probably needs a bit of pruning but I don’t want to sacrifice the flowers.
• The mature shrubs are a neat round shape.
• The leaves are also a neat round simple leaf
• Other varieties include a tree Cotinus cobovatus called the American Smoke Tree
• Cotinus coggygria Golden Spirit has been bred to have yellow leaves and is protected by PBR.