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Question about Cotinus coggygria regarding pruning
Paul Anderson
Posts: 260
in Talkback
I know that Cotinus require little or no pruning and can be spoilt by hard pruning BUT i recently read that they can be coppiced....so can both be done or have i mis-read something? Thanks
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My cotinus was planted more than 20 years ago and eventually outgrew its space. I wanted to develop that area so one year cut it back to a stump but didn't have the time to dig it out. Low and behold it grew back and produced stems with much better leaves. I cut it hard back most years and I will say after 8 years of this treatment it is very subdued, but I have gained 8 years extra as a backdrop to my bright pink dahlias.
I know some people cut them back every year or every few years. I'd just like one to grow enough to be cut.
I've just got my third. If that dies there won't be any more
Paul, cutting back hard produces bigger leaves and no flowers, It depends what you want. When you get conflicting advice like that it often means that both will work OK
In the sticks near Peterborough
Mine is grown as a standard, so I cut it back quite hard each spring, but I don't get the 'smoke' flowers
Mine suffered bad wind damage a few years ago so I cut off the remaining branches leaving a 6ft trunk which I left over the Winter intending to take down in Spring. I was surprised to see lots of buds emerging so left it to grow on as a giant lollipop. If I were to go through this again I would coppice it.