And just like that... it's #winter! Very rare for us in North-East England to get autumn foliage AND snow AND sun in the same shot. Fitting for the first day of meteorological winter. Cotinus (smoke bush) and eucalyptus backed by the beech hedge and a whitebeam in snow on a sunny morning.

Coccum ‘scarlet dye’ is probably behind the name of a most interesting plant #InMyGarden. On bright days the sun shines thru its purple leaves & they appear scarlet. It’s the ‘cotinus coggygria’, a variety of Smoke Bush. Earlier in the summer it was in flower, like smokey puffs rising in the hot air. I love its dark charcoal leaves edged with red.
The name ‘Cotinus’ goes back to proto-Greek days, maybe a wild olive tree in Iron Age S. Europe.

Roxburgh in Central Otago, New Zealand. The purple Cotinus (smoke bush) looked superb. Taken 04 Dec 2022 by me, afternoon.

Pink smoke.. more #smoke #tree photos! ~from our #street, taken 31 January. #Tapanui, West Otago. New Zealand. #Cotinus #coggygria #NewZealand #WestOtago