Golden Spirit Smoketree                ko-TI-nus ko-GIG-ri-a

• Deciduous shrub, dense, to about 8 ft (2.4 m) tall, may spread to 15 ft (4.5 m), can be trimmed to a hedge of 6 ft (1.8 m).  Leaves bright lime-green when young, more green and yellow in summer, and then turn orange-red in fall.  Some uncertainty as to its flowering capability.  The plant patent (PP13,082) states that over more than a 4 year period, “no flowering has been observed by the inventor to date.”  Reportedly, however, several nurseries claim that Golden Spirit ™ regularly produces the usual tiny yellow flowers in spring and characteristic "smoky" summer clusters that appear on most other smoketree cultivars (Missouri Bot. Garden).
• Sun or part shade.  The leaves reportedly do not scorch in direct sunlight unless the soil becomes exceptionally dry.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5  Found in 1990 at the Dutch Nursery of Willem A Sanders.
• Silverton, Oregon: The Oregon Garden.