Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'
smoke bush
- Position: full sun
- Soil: moderately-fertile, moist, well-drained soil
- Rate of growth: average
- Flowering period: July to August
- Hardiness: fully hardy
This deciduous shrub has magnificent, dark red-purple oval leaves, that turn scarlet in autumn. In July and August, it is festooned with fluffy plumes of purplish-pink flowers that look like a haze of smoke. This is an eye-catching specimen plant for a sunny shrub or mixed border. The foliage, which appears almost translucent when backlit by the sun, is at its best when the plant has been pruned hard in March. - Garden care: In late winter or early spring remove any misplaced, diseased or crossing branches. Alternatively, to produce larger leaves, cut the stems back hard to within two or three buds of the base in early spring. After pruning apply a generous 5-7cm (2-3in) mulch of well-rotted garden compost or manure around the base of the plant.
Phormium 'Sundowner'
New Zealand flax
Strappy leaves with all the colours of the sunset
Imperata cylindrica 'Rubra'
blood grass (syn. Red Baron)
Mid-green leaves turn blood red
Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm'
black-eyed susan
Large golden-yellow flowerheads
Actinidia kolomikta
kolomikta vine / michurin actinidia
Striking, pink and white splashed leaves
Large Flowered Clematis
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Burgundy-red lollipop leaves held late into the year and, when the temperature drops, the leaves develop a bright-pink margin
Val Bourne - Garden Writer