Cotinus coggygria collection with coloured foliage

This collection of Cotinus with colourful foliage will allow you to create a large shrub bed or enrich a hedge with multicoloured, changing tones from spring to autumn. It consists of three different varieties of smokebush trees selected for the beauty of their foliage. In summer, smoky-looking, feathery, pink panicles form. These varieties are as robust as their parent, Cotinus coggygria, a deciduous bush known as smokebush that thrives on limestone hills and rocky slopes.

The collection consists of:

1 Cotinus coggygria 'Old Fashioned': a vigorous variety, reaching 2.50 m high and 2 m wide. Its foliage changes from orange or purple in spring to bluish-green in summer, and then the whole plant ignites with red and orange in autumn.

1 Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Lady': a compact and rounded variety reaching about 2 m high. Its spring foliage is yellow-orange, turning golden yellow in summer, and then it blends golden yellow, orange, and even some salmon pink tones at the end of the season.

1 Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple': a famous variety with intense purple-violet foliage, finely edged with pink. The bush reaches 3.50 m in height and 2.50 m in spread, with a sometimes slightly unruly habit. Its cloud-like panicles are darker than the other two, in smoky purple. Its foliage turns scarlet and violet in autumn.

Plant these Cotinus in well-drained soil that does not retain too much moisture. Ordinary garden soil, even limestone, will suit them. Once rooted, they tolerate summer drought well. In a hedge, leave a spacing of 1 m between each plant. In a bed, you can space these smokebush trees 1.50 m apart. Create a colourful and low-maintenance hedge by alternating different varieties of Cotinus, spindle trees with autumn colours, Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea', and the tall Weigela 'Alexandra' with dark purple foliage.