Multiple transplants could have a retarding effect. Dying back would definitely prevent development of mature, flowering top. Check hardiness zones, this should be pretty hardy but all plants have a cutoff somewhere.

If definitely not too cold maybe it has verticillium wilt.

It's supposed to be hardy to zone 4. I assume you know it blooms on the previous year's wood, so don't prune it too late.

Two years is not a long time for a shrub to get established, I'd give it more time, and leave it in one place for a while.

Okay. Thank you for the advice.I've only ever pruned to remove deadwood. But growth has been minimal except for last year, but then all that lovely new growth died over the winter. I'll just have to be patient. Sigh! I do love the plant - gorgeous leaves and colour - when you can see it over the tops of the plants in front of it!

it took mine about 6 years to bloom ... with never moving it .... that is your problem ... and it died back when young .....

count how long you have had it in the last location .. and then wait a lot more years ... lol ...

when you see them around town ... note that they are huge old bushes.. not little babes ...

ken

Purple smoke bushes are less hardy than the species with the blue-green leaves. Even in zone 5b, they do best as cut back shrubs because one cold winter will leave a lot of dieback. When grown as cut back shrubs, they never flower, but the flush of rich purple growth on a good cultiver is the whole show. With that, you don't need flowers.

My purple smoke bush was quite established and mature b4 it ever bloomed, and even then the blooms were kind of spindly. I'm sure it could use some fertilizing, which it has never had....just never seems to be enough time to do everything, so most things are left to fend for themselves.

Sue

Thank you all so much for your advice. I'm greatful to know that it needs to be well established before there is any chance of flowering and hopefully age will make it more winter hardy. But, felisa, you're right, even just to have it for the foliage is enough - the leaves are gorgeous!

This confirms my suspicion of hardiness of this plant for zone 5.
I had two, and both died back severely over the winter.

Thanks for the info.
-jasper

We're in the Chicago area and have a purple smokebushplanted in a southern exposure, very protected from northwest winter winds by our garage wall. It is just a fabulous performer. We got it an a season-end sale in the fall of 2002, and it bloomed for the first time in 2004. I'm having a hard time containing it in its space next to our sidewalk!

So I think the microclimate has a lot to do with our success. Every marginally-hardy plant I buy gets planted on that side of the house and always does really well.

Here is mine in bloom, about six weeks ago. I swear, it's two feet taller and wider now.

{{gwi:269020}}

I vaguely remember that smoke bush doesn't need?want?like? fertilizing. Does anyone have any experience - or a better memory?

Corylopsis, I ve read that it's drought tolerant once established, and it doesn't need much fertilizing. I watered mine twice, once during last year's millennial drought, and a couple years ago when the arborist told me to water and fertilize it after he found signs of verticillium wilt. The only thing I do to it is prune.

I lost two purple smoke bushes ( I forget which cultivar I had) to verticillium wilt, and replaced them with Physocarpus 'Diablo'. But the yellow leafed smokebush, Cotinus 'Golden gift' was untouched by the wilt.

Speaking of verticillium wilt, my Smoke Bush has bloomed and was doing great (this is our second summer) until I came back from vacation and noticed it had a branch with dead leaves. I looked closely at the leaves and noticed that some in other spots are turning yellow. I am afraid it has Verticillium Wilt. Has anyone had any luck combating this disease? I would really hate to loose it, it has grown and bloomed so well.

Prune off any dead limbs, water well, fertilize lightly and hope for the best. I lost a third of my smokebush three years ago and was tempted to dig it out and plant something resistant, but I decided to wait. I haven't had similar wilting since then. That makes me wonder if it really was verticillium, but I've read that the symptoms can appear out of nowhere after years of healthy growth.

I checked with a well known garden centre, Cullen Gardens and they were right. The purple smoke bush will only smoke on branches are that are 2 years old or more. So if you keep moving your bush around you won't get anything. You have to leave it alone, like I did and if branches got hit by cold and didn't show leaf I cut it off, like they said. This year it's blooming and should smoke. Quit moving it around, that is your problem since it has to get established and get rooted.

Mine is 4 years old now and this is the first year we have a full smoke. As much as I hated to do it, I left it alone and only trimmed the bottom little branches so the top would fill out.

Give it a go and leave it alone.

Everything is making so much more sense to me after Peonysmoke's post. I too have never had my purple smokebush bloom. The first 2 years it got massive winter dieback from being in line of the winter winds. Then I moved it to another, more sunny and less windy location. Apparently it liked the move because it grew really tall last year (but no smoke). This year it looks like I may get some blooming, but only from lower limbs (the growth that is older than 2 yrs).

Go figure though - I bought a "Young Lady" smokebush at the end of last fall (who can resist a 1.5 gallon shrub at $2.50?). I left it in the pot and covered it with straw for the winter. The tips looked like they had died back, but I held off pruning. Lo and behold, it has leafed out everywhere and looks to be getting ready to bloom.

I noticed I was getting dying leaves on my smoke bush that I've had for 2 years now. I thought maybe it was the leaves that had started and then affected by a late freeze in the spring. I was gone over the weekend, and the bush looked almost completely dead when I returned. I finally took a closer look, and noticed alot of new growth on the braches as well. So I decided to trim off the dead. THEN I did some research. And I'm not feeling very hopeful. I wonder if anyone out there has had luck with the smoke bush after a bout with verticillium wilt?

My smokebush ( 4 years in same spot, has probably only grown about 6-12 inches in that time) has a problem with the leaves becoming badly spotted and misshapen (and generally looking pretty sickly). It is in about 3/4th shade in an area which stays moist, but never has standing water. It has never bloomed and generally looks disappointing from July 4th on each year.

Vercillium wilt, huh? I'll have to see if there are pics online of it and see if that's the problem.

~Chills

my purple smokebush was planted this spring and now that its june, ive got zero clusters of smoke. will this take a few years? also, i noticed at the bottom of shrub some of the leaves are dying and turning a bright orange/red. could this be from transplant shock?

The previous owners of our home allowed the purple smoke bush to grow into a tree w/4" stems (divided into 2 stems at about 8" off ground). I cut back to about a 3' height and it is quite unappealing. Would it die if I cut it back to about 1' height with hope it would branch out in bush form from there? It also does not have leaves till late May; normal for Zone 4 w/northwest exposure?

Does one prune it or not? L I've in NorwaLK CT

WELL...WELL....I planted a yellow smoke bush in spring of this year (2011) and while it sprouted to about 3 1/2 feet, of course it did not flower. HOW DO I prune it to bush it out and flower please.

NOW IMPORTANT INFO: Up in Elliot Lake, where I spent 7 years (and miss it terribly), a neighbour has a stunning purple smoke bush. They NEVER did one thing to it in years. In fact, ignored it. AND TUESS WHAT? It is 12 feet tall and 8 feet (at least) wide and covered in flowers. NO FERTALIZER...NO TRIMMING....and not even a thought. The soil up there is clay and sand and loads of rocks. As I say, they simply ignored it and it did better than anything I have ever seen. ALSO, it is in a totally open corner, by the road with huge amounts of salt from plowing and MAJOR wind. No protection whatsoever. GO FIGURE!