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Purple Tree?
D0rdogne_Damsel
Posts: 4,184
in Plants
This lovely purple tree has been badly neglected and was covered in bindweed and choked by weeds. Now I have rescued it I would like to know what it is so I can give it some TLC and try and revive it. Any ideas?
Appreciate any help as ever. Thanks.
- “Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?” —Betsy Cañas Garmon
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That's a cotinus coggygria. https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=559 When they are pruned they make lovely fresh new growth and they can be pruned quite hard.
I've just looked at that link from the RHS and seen it's group one, light or no pruning. I have an old one which had got very straggly so I researched it and found they can be pruned hard, so I cut mine in half! It's done much better since.
Thank you both so much, so efficient. It has got a lot of flaky stuff on the trunk, should I leave it or rub it off??
Embrace the lichen. It's a sign of good , clean air. It only grows a few millimeters a year so should never be a problem.
Here in North Devon I've seen mature trees covered in it and they're still in great health.
Regarding pruning Cotinus, technically they don't need pruning as RHS says, but , as also been said, if you " stool" them, almost as you'd do with dogwoods, they produce a great flush of new growth which tends to have much larger leaves.
The choice is yours. Both work.
I like it as it is
I'd just prune off a few stragglers
As Hostafan says, the choice is yours. What would look more appropriate in your garden, a knarled, lichen covered tree or a bush of large purple leaves.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Hi D,D as smoke bushes go thats a very nice one,mines about to get a big hair cut as the prev owners no TLC so it just went tall and spindly so an early autumn prune is the thing i think ,also you have a lot of life still on yours mines got 6 bright red leaves left thats all as the rest is going into sleep mode, I think i,ll chance a stooling if thats what its called so ilI get a new start then i can train it a little better, in summer and autumn they really are a bush to have in the garden , Iv layered 2 very low branches in July and hope they take so we can have more smokies , good luck
Alan, I've layered Cotinus Grace ( a larger leafed form than yours, which I think is either C C Royal Purple, or C C Notcutt's Variety )twice before and both formed lovely new plants
Thank you all, I am going to give it a little bit of a prune, it is a bit lob-sided as the poor thing has been straining for the light. The position it is in means it would be better as a tree than a bush. Ideally it ought to be moved but don't think I am up to moving it and also wouldn't know quite where to put it anyway. It is at the edge of a flowerbed full of roses and other as yet unidentified perennials so if it went too bushy would hide all of them. Will also leave the lichen now I know it is not going to cause a problem.
Hopefully will end up with a 'bushy tree', thanks again for great advice, so good to get varying opinions/experiences.