the plant.. all of them.. are extremely color variable .. over the season ... depending on all micro variables in your garden ...

if you have high need for that purple all season long.. you may be disappointed ... if so.. it might not be for you ...

if you are willing to accept them for what they end up being.. you ought to be pleased ...

all of them have explosive huge growth potential ... even relatively speaking on the dwarves .... i presume you understand that with your coppicing concept ...

ken

I am also not sure how consistent the accuracy of labels in the trade are on this plant or whether growing conditions can make the color change some. I remember several years ago going to a reputable local nursery where there was a row of purple Cotinus all with the same label and growth pattern, but quite a variation in the depth of color in the foliage.

You might read up on them, but then actually make your selection by going to the nursery about now when they are likely to have the least rich color to choose one.

I have never found the color to be variable through the season on either 'Royal Purple' or 'Velvet Cloak' - both retain that very intense, deep burgundy coloration all summer in my climate, only changing to a more firey red/bronze with fall. Mine looked like the photo all summer long! 'Grace' is a hybrid, does go through a range of coloring during the season, grows to half again the size of the others and is never as intensely purple as the previous two. But she gets incredible fall coloring. Var. purpurea ('Atropurpurea') seems rather washed out to me compared to the named forms and is much harder to find in my area.........and I am unfamiliar with 'Lilla'.

Personally, if you are looking for a deep burgundy/purple foliar presence in the garden, I think either 'Royal Purple' or 'Velvet Cloak' are exceptional choices. The best coloring will come with full sun siting and they like a consistently moist soil. Also, periodic pollarding or coppicing will intensify the foliage color.

My royal purple is a muddy green. Not unattractive but far from purple..

Original poster: Where did you find that photo? That purple plant almost looks like a Euphorbia cotinifolia. Of course it could be Cotinus.

I think that the blue-green juniper planted below it really accentuates the color.

That photo is amped up and over-saturated so the color is intensified. That branching looks awfully Cotinus-like. The color combo is nice, as noted, even when not doctored. I have the same experience as Gardengal except that my 'Grace' all grow in such awkward, unattractive form that I am slowly either removing or repeatedly coppicing them. I have a straight C. obovatus that has a decent form but the 'Grace' but on up to 10' per year of growth curling back on itself, with foliage only on about 1/2 of the branches (at the ends). Not a good look, despite the great fall color.

Mine looked like the photo all summer long!

==>>> i have never seen one... in person ..... the color of the pic ... goes to show .... how geographic location might impact coloration ....

just give it a go .... you can always remove it later if it fails your expectations ... gardening is not static... removal is always an option ...

and i do recall.. color is best in morning or in evening ... dont go look at it during the afternoon ... sun intensity will make the color less .... if you have to squint... that is not the best time to be comparing ... the color doesnt change.. your eyeballs just cant register it ....

ken

Of the common ones 'Royal Purple' is the one for good deep coloring. But some 'Royal Purple' on the market are seedlings rather than true-to-type clones. And as with other purple leaved woody plant selections how the coloring holds up through the summer apparently varies with site conditions.

'Atropurpureus' is a synonym of Purpureus which covers green-leaved forms with purplish flowers. The Group* name for plants with purple leaves is Rubrifolius. In both cases presumably multiple separate introductions have been grown and sold, hence the Group designation.

*Cultivar Groups are something seen in British publications; over here the less accurate tendency seems to be to list all woody plant cultivars in particular as though they were clonal or otherwise never involving multiple different introductions - even though that is not always the case

I get seedlings all the time (though not copious amounts) and in past I have potted them up and there was big color variation. Some had very glaucus notes.

A blue on on the market now I like the look of so far is 'Old Fashioned'. The newest growth is purple.

Thank you so much everyone! Very helpful.

Dave--I just found the picture on google search. Sara may well be right in thinking its tampered with. I have no idea.

Thanks again everyone--- I appreciate your taking the time to weigh in. And if others have additional comments I will read these too :)

M.

Almost ALL photos are 'tampered with'. Makes me nuts...

My Royal Purple came from Home Depot, which may be where the disappointing seed-propagated variations end up?

Yes, to my eye it looks like the purple color in that photo was altered by adjusting hue , saturation or contrast.

Dave all of the above!

I am a wee bit confused by the zone 4 by your name but zone 5 in the text, but I wanted to add that around here on the border of zone 4 and 5, ma nature often does the coppicing of purple smokebushes which don't seem quite as hardy as the old-fashioned ones I see by farmhouses in large sizes with the smoky blooms. There are a couple of purple ones I see regularly that are more than 15 years old which are often killed back to the snow line, so I am glad that you are planning to grow them that way.

The end of season sales are coming up. Take a tour of nurseries and see the continus and the leaf color and you'll have a good idea of the end of season leaf color.

Take your chances and wait till the sales start, or buy the one you see now.

So I know there are a couple of ways to prune this. Cut it to the ground every winter. Then it won't grow a ton the next year and will have nice leaves, but no smoke. The other way is to let it grow bigger and get smoke, but then everyone complains about how awkward its form is, with tons of branches shooting off the previously pruned branching points.

How does one prune it consistently to look like this image I found?

Seeing the pic above my comment makes me so sad...I bought 2 of these 2 years ago..the smoke isn’t purple/pink colored, it’s more buff :/ and the leaves are FAR from any type of purple, more ugly green...very disappointed with them...I have the Royal Purple variety

There is a new cultivar called Winecraft Black and it stays dark all season even in the Midwest where the heat bleaches out Royal Purple. Winecraft Black was developed at NCSU.

Tim, do you have experience with how Winecraft Black does in particularly cold winters? Thanks for sharing your extensive knowledge!

Very new on the market....like this year.......so doubt there has been much of a track record established yet.