Choosing a Cotinus: Buying Guide

According to the flowering period

The Cotinus is renowned for its spectacular, plume-like flowering reminiscent of wigs. It is a remarkable bush when vaporous panicles crown its foliage from summer to autumn. In May-June, the pedicels of the sterile flowers elongate into long filaments, forming an ethereal hair that enhances the silhouette of the bush. The flowering is spring or summer, depending on the varieties, starting and ending more or less early:

• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Spirit’® delights us from late spring, in May and until August, with magnificent plumes of coppery pink.
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Old Fashioned’ produces pale pink vaporous panicles from May to July.
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Young Lady’ flowers a bit later, showcasing in June and until August its pink wigs.
• The Cotinus ‘Grace’ flowers for a shorter period. From July to August, it adorns itself with pinkish vaporous floral panicles.

Cotinus ‘Grace’ © (cutlivar 413) and on the right the cultivar ‘Young Lady’

According to the colour of the flowers

The cotinus presents a flowering that resembles cotton, evoking clouds of smoke, candy floss, or airy wigs, to the extent that the English refer to it as the “smoke tree.” It flowers in white, most often in tea rose, in purplish pink, and more rarely in coppery orange.

• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Smokey Joe’ offers a feathery and generous flowering of a bright pink in summer.
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Young Lady’ produces plumes of a pale pink slightly smoky hue.
• The Cotinus ‘Dusky Maiden’ displays flowers that transition from pink to purplish pink.
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Red Spirit’ stands out with its light red to very bright coral pink flowering, simply spectacular, almost fluorescent, contrasting beautifully against the bluish-green foliage in summer!
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’ flowers in deep purplish pink shades.
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Spirit’®, is adorned with plumes of coppery orange, a rarity as well.
• The Cotinus ‘Grace’ showcases a vaporous flowering in delicate white-pink hues, contrasting wonderfully against its deep purple foliage.

On the left, Cotinus ‘Young Lady’, top right Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’, and bottom right Cotinus ‘Golden Spirit’ (© Cultivar 413)

According to the colour of the foliage

It is undoubtedly the colour of the foliage that inspires you the most when choosing a Cotinus. Although it is deciduous, it enchants us with the palette of colours it offers. In Cotinus, the foliage plays a true symphony from spring to autumn. The deciduous leaves appear as early as April, are ovate in shape, and measure 5 to 15 cm long. Some develop purplish foliage, while others burst into golden yellow. Their hues change with the seasons, taking on warm shades from orange-red to scarlet, and even bluish-purple as autumn arrives. All Cotinus display beautiful colours in autumn before losing their leaves.

Purple Foliage

Many Cotinus are adorned with purple foliage. With their deep-coloured attire, they add density to a border or create striking contrasts. The colours will be even more pronounced when the bush is exposed to sunlight. Their leaves may appear almost black. Some delicately veined leaves will be enhanced when light passes through them. This purple foliage is perfect in a wild garden, as well as in a modern garden, adding a subtle, dark, contemporary touch.

• The Cotinus ‘Dusky Maiden’ unfurls in brown-purple, intensifying in colour during summer, and igniting in orange and red in autumn.
• The Cotinus ‘Winecraft Black®’ colours up in purple-violet in spring, darkens under the summer sun, and blazes in red-orange in autumn.
• The Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ displays veined foliage of deep purple-violet highlighted with pink in spring and summer, turning to scarlet in autumn.
• The Cotinus ‘Grace’ offers delightfully changing foliage, pomegranate red in summer before finishing in purplish green in autumn before dropping.

Cotinus ‘Grace’ (©Laurent Houmeau), Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’, and below Cotinus ‘Dusky Maiden’ and ‘Winecraft Black’

Golden Foliage

The varieties with yellow or golden foliage bring a lot of brightness to the garden. All are deciduous, and they always take on beautiful warm shades in autumn before losing their leaves.

• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Lady’ bursts into orange-yellow in spring, then gradually turns to golden in summer, and then to orange in autumn.
• The Cotinus coggygria ‘Golden Spirit®’ dons golden yellow foliage in summer, transitioning to reddish-orange with copper highlights at the end of the season.

Cotinus ‘Golden Lady’ and ‘Golden Spirit’ (© Leonora Enking)

Green Foliage

The Cotinus coggygria ‘Flamissimo®’ is somewhat of an exception as it unfolds its large purplish green foliage in spring, gradually taking on increasingly warm hues, ranging from vermilion red to orange, finishing in bright yellow in autumn.