Maintaining My Allée of London Plane Trees and Smoke Bushes

September 11, 2026

Maintaining My Allée of London Plane Trees and Smoke Bushes

I have long admired allées and have incorporated several into my farm's landscape over the years.

In landscaping, an allée, or avenue, is traditionally a straight path or road lined with trees or large shrubs on either side. Typically, the plantings are of the same species or cultivar, creating a uniform appearance along the entire length of the allée. In 2019, I decided to establish an allée along the carriage road through my lower hayfields. I planted a combination of London plane trees and approximately 100 Royal Purple smoke bushes, Cotinus coggygria. The allée is maturing beautifully and so quickly with the smoke bushes growing more than three feet each year. This week they were pruned and groomed.

Here are some photos, enjoy.

: Along the carriage road adjacent to my Equipment Barn, I have a mature allée of pin oaks. It is one of the first allées I planted when I purchased my farm. One of the tree’s most distinguishable traits is that its lower branches hang down, while the middle branches reach out horizontally and the upper branches grow upright.

: This is one of two allées of linden, Tilia – medium to large shade trees that are easy to maintain and beautiful in any landscape. This one starts up near my Winter House and extends to the Boxwood Allée and then to the chicken coops.

: Here is the other half. I love how these trees have developed over the years.

: And here is my long Boxwood allée leading to my stable. Buxus is a genus of at least 70-species in the family Buxaceae. It is a very versatile plant that provides strong shape and rich green color.

: Among the newest allées at my farm is one planted with London plane trees and smoke bushes along both sides of a carriage road to my woodlands. I planted 46 London plane trees in this allée, but with all the growth of the Cotinus, it’s hard to see them. The smoke bushes are so healthy – they’ve grown about three feet in just one year. This is a section before pruning.

: To share some of the development, here is the allée in 2022, three years after it was first planted.

: Here it is in 2024.

: And this year, they’re in need of a good pruning. These are pruned every summer. The smoke bushes all around the farm have grown so much because of careful and consistent care.

: Cutting it back regularly can help the Cotinus retain its most colorful foliage.

: The name “smoke bush” comes from the billowy hairs attached to the flower clusters which remain in place through the season, turning a smoky pink to purplish-pink and then light brown as the weeks progress.

: 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.

: Pasang goes deep into the plant to lop or cut off any superfluous branches or shoots for better shape and better growth.

: He cuts off any dead or crisscrossing branches first. The rule of thumb when pruning is to cut the dead, diseased, damaged, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material.

: Here, one can see where he pruned the branch last year and the new branches that have grown since.

: As the branches are cut, Pasang gathers them in neat bunches, so they are easy to collect later and take to the compost yard.

: Here is a pruned smoke bush.

: Here, one can see what Pasang pruned and what he has to prune next.

: And here is a section done – the London plane trees are now easier to see.

: 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 can also thrive in partial shade. These are growing excellently.