Royal Purple and Golden Spirit may sound like the names of a dynamic crime-fighting duo; but here on the farm, they're two of our favorite summer specialty branches!
Cotinus is a summer crop through and through — they love sun and heat, which is why we grow them at our Willow Creek farm, located 45 minutes inland from our coastal Arcata location. The open-field farm is nestled in a sunny valley which sees 14-15 hours of sunlight and temperatures ranging from 75-90 degrees during the summer — the ideal environment for these sky-reaching branches.
And how they love to reach for the sky! We start harvesting around the beginning of June, picking through summertime and into fall. At the end of the season, we prune the plants down to the ground; they rest through the winter and then begin growing, shooting up to a height of 10+ feet tall!
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Sun Valley Group's Flower Talk