Cotinus coggygria Golden Spirit - Smoke Bush

Cotinus coggygria GOLDEN SPIRIT® 'Ancot' is one of the brightest smoke trees. Its golden foliage enlivens the garden in spring, becoming somewhat greener in summer before taking on remarkable coral, orange and red shades in autumn. This large shrub is as robust as the type species: it withstands cold, tolerates heat and copes well with drought once established. Its airy flowering, when it appears in summer, adds further to its charm.

The cultivar name of this Cotinus is 'Ancot', while GOLDEN SPIRIT® is its trade name. It was selected in the Netherlands, at Boskoop, from seedlings of Cotinus coggygria. Spotted in 1989, it received the award for best novelty at the Plantarium show in 1999, followed by an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. The type species is a shrub in the Anacardiaceae family. It occurs naturally from southern Europe to central and southern China, where it grows notably on stony, dry and sunny slopes.
Golden Spirit® is a large deciduous shrub, with an initially upright habit, becoming more rounded and spreading with age. It commonly reaches 3 to 4 m in height and 3 m in spread, sometimes up to 5 m when grown in good conditions. Its almost round leaves emerge in bronze shades, becoming golden yellow to yellow-green during the growing season, then turning coral pink, orange and red in autumn. They withstand full sun better than those of many golden shrubs. The flowering, more irregular than that of some other cotinus, appears mainly on mature plants that are not pruned every year. It takes place between June and August depending on the plant and the climate. Tiny greenish flowers are grouped in light panicles. After flowering, the pedicels elongate and become covered in silky hairs, forming the famous misty plumes, pale pink to coppery. This shrub grows fairly quickly and its hardiness reaches –23 to –25 °C.

Cotinus Golden Spirit® is particularly beautiful planted as a specimen on a lawn, in front of a green backdrop that highlights its changing foliage. It also has a place in an informal hedge or at the back of a large shrub border, in an unwatered Mediterranean garden or in a more contemporary setting. It can be paired with large hardy, drought-resistant shrubs such as Russian olive, wayfaring tree, Berberis × ottawensis 'Superba' and wild mock orange Philadelphus coronarius. Their silver, green or purple foliage sets off its golden shades, which become fiery in autumn.