SMOKE TREE

---

• The Smoke Tree gets its name from clusters of fading flowers in the late summer; the stalks of the sterile flowers elongate and become covered with fuzzy purple hairs, creating puffs of "smoke" at the end of the branches. Grows naturally as a large shrub, but can be trained as a small tree with early pruning.
   
• Actually prefers rocky, poor soils. Needs fast drainage if planted in regularly irrigated locations. Hardy to -30 degrees F.
   
• 'Royal Purple' is a cultivar that has purple leaves (the species has green leaves) and a deeper purple "flower."
   
• Height to 25 feet.