by As you know, I love the smoke tree. I have three Golden Spirit Smoke trees and had been on the look out for a Royal Purple Smoke tree. A few months ago I found a baby one at a local nursery and though the leaves looked different, I thought maybe they were just sun bleached. The label did say “Royal Purple Smoke Tree”. It was looking a little tired and thought it might be root bound and in need of some TLC. Perhaps it has been there for a while at the nursery and not new to this year. This is what a Royal Purple Smoke Tree looks like:
I re-potted it, this tiny baby tree and put some ground cover in with it. It took a few months but it finally started getting more leaves, but not purple like I see in pictures like the one from above from the internet. And neither did they look like the Golden Spirit Smoke Trees. Here is what they look like”
Now take a look at the new leaves this baby Royal Purple has produced.
Isn’t that incredible? There was a while there when I thought it was not going to make it, but now it has all these new leaves that are not like what they should be. It is beautiful and I am wondering if they will stay this way? If, as it grows and matures, they will turn into the purple? It would be neat if it was a natural mutation. It is adorable making its unique watermelon looking leaves. I wonder if it had been at the nursery for a long time, overlooked and under cared for, maybe people thinking it was sickly and not wanting to buy it, not knowing it might be a mutation. It’s adorable.
Here is what smoke trees look like when they get their puffs:
I am wondering if this little mutant smoke tree will get it’s puffs and what they will look like. I hope they are watermelon pink. So cute.
