Pruning the Cotinus in the Allée
In order to keep my farm and its gardens, allées, and groves as beautiful as possible, I pay lots of attention to the maintenance and care of all my trees and shrubs.
In 2019, I decided to plant an allée along the carriage road through the lower hayfields. I planted a selection of London plane trees and about 100 royal purple smoke bushes, Cotinus coggygria. Over the years these trees have thrived with the smoke bushes growing about 24 inches each year. This week they were pruned and groomed and they look excellent.
Enjoy these photos.
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- So much can happen in a year’s time. The smoke bushes all around the farm have grown so much because of careful and consistent care.
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- I planted this particular allée in the fall of 2019. I thought this area of the middle hayfield was a perfect stretch of landscape for a long allée of London planes and smoke bushes. Here it is that first year.
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- I wanted the allée to extend the entire portion of the road that cuts through the hayfields. By the summer of 2021, it looked like this. These smoke bushes can grow up to 15-feet tall and 10-feet wide. I love its upright, multi-stemmed habit.
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- Here is the allée in June 2022 – the smoke bushes are wider and more full. Cotinus or smoke bush, is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae, closely related to the sumacs. It has an upright habit when young and spreads wider with age.
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- Here it is last year. Under optimal conditions, smoke bushes can add about 13 to 24 inches to its height each year. The colors of the smoke bushes and the London planes behind them look striking together.
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- The London plane tree, Platanus × acerifolia, is a deciduous tree. It is a cross between two sycamore species: Platanus occidentalis, the American sycamore, and Platanus orientalis, the Oriental plane. London planes grow best in full sun, but they also thrive in partial shade. These are also growing excellently.
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- The leaf of a London plane is similar to that of a maple leaf – simple with alternate arrangements that have three to five lobes. These leathery leaves are about six to seven inches wide with roughly toothed edges.
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- The bark is medium gray and smooth. The tree shows a distinctive camouflage pattern created as patches of green or brown outer bark that flake off to expose a more creamy inner bark.
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- Pasang Sherpa is my resident tree pruner. He does a wonderful job overseeing the maintenance of all the trees here at my farm. I like as much of the pruning and grooming to be done by hand, so Pasang trims every branch with his pruners – one by one.
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- Pasang shows where he pruned last year. All the branches surrounding it are new – grown over the last 12 months. When removing amounts of wood, cut back to just before a growth node to prevent dead ends.
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- Here is a pruned smoke bush. Smoke bushes are among my favorite small trees.
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- The name “smoke bush” comes from the billowy hairs attached to the flower clusters which remain in place through the summer, turning a smoky pink to purplish-pink and then light brown as the weeks progress.
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- These royal purple smoke bushes, Cotinus coggygria, have stunning dark red-purple foliage that turns scarlet red in fall.
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- The undersides are bright green. The leaves of smoke bushes are waxy purple and are one and a half to three inches long, and ovate in shape.
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- Cutting it back regularly can help the Cotinus retain its most colorful foliage.
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- Here, one can see what Pasang pruned and what he has to prune next. Pruning eliminates the dead, damaged, or overcrowded branches and allows in more light and air circulation.
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- As the branches are cut, Pasang gathers them in one place, so they are easy to collect later and take to the compost yard.
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- Lower to the ground at the base of the trees and bushes are pink hydrangeas. The blooms on these compact Endless Summer Crush® hydrangeas are intense, deep raspberry pink.
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- However, depending on the soil, the blooms can often change color – a more purple bloom is caused by a greater mix of lime and acid in the soil. When mature, these hydrangeas will reach 36-inches tall with a spread that’s 18 to 36-inches wide.
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- Hydrangea leaves are opposite, simple, stalked, pinnate, and four to eight inches long. They are also toothed, and sometimes lobed.
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- Pasang cuts all the Cotinus to the appropriate height, so one can see the London plane trees behind them. Here is one side done – they looks so much fuller compared to when they were first planted.
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- And here is the allée now with all the smoke bushes pruned beautifully. This allée will be such a lovely addition to future garden tours.
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