Smoke signals

The ‘smoke-like’ fluffy flower heads of smoketree bushes are a personal favorite of mine. Difficult to photograph, but delightful to see. The colors of the flowers can vary from buff, to pale pink, to wine-red like this one. As unique and interesting as these flowers are…it may be the leaves in autumn that I like the most about smoketree—the color of the leaves gradually vary as you move down a single branch creating inviting ombre gradient, and in autumn it gets even more visible and striking. Alas, it is not autumn. It is nearly high-summer, and smoketrees are are in full fluff.

smoketree/smoke bush (Cotinus)