Shrub · Celastraceae
Burning Bush
Euonymus alatus
Set it in full sun and the autumn leaves blaze a deep scarlet you can pick out clear across the yard.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 4–8
15–20 ft · 4.6–6.1 m
Overview
Gardeners reach for burning bush for one payoff above the rest: that fall color. Through summer the foliage stays a plain, reliable green, but as the days draw in the leaves catch fire in a fierce scarlet-red that has lit up yards and parking lots for generations. Corky, winged ridges run the length of the stems, and that's where names like winged euonymus come from.
This shrub asks next to nothing of you. With its roots settled it laughs off drought, accepts clay, loam, or sand without a fuss, and rides out winters down to -29°F (-34°C). That very toughness is the trap. Birds eat the orange-red fruit and drop the seed across woods and fencerows, where it surges into dense thickets and muscles out native plants.
For that reason burning bush now runs invasive across much of the eastern and central United States and sits outright banned in several states. To chase the same autumn blaze without the runaway spread, reach for natives like chokeberry, serviceberry, or ninebark instead.
Care
The short version: set it in full sun for the fieriest fall color, hand it well-drained soil of nearly any type, water it through establishment and then largely leave it be, and prune in late winter to keep its shape in line.
Light
Hand burning bush full sun for the boldest fall color. It puts up with partial shade and keeps growing happily, but shaded plants turn green in autumn and miss the scarlet display that earns the shrub its spot.
Water
Water a fresh plant steadily through year one, then ease off. Once settled it turns genuinely drought tolerant and only calls for water every 7 to 14 days in a dry spell. Keep it clear of constantly wet soil, which invites twig blight.
Soil
This shrub takes nearly any well-drained soil, clay through loam to sand, across a broad pH of 5.5 to 8.0. Drainage is the one demand it won't bend on, since soggy ground breeds most of its grief.
Temperature
Burning bush stays cold-hardy from roughly -29°F to 95°F (-34°C to 35°C), spanning USDA zones 4 through 8. Brutal winters don't rattle it, and that same grit is part of why it bolts into the wild so readily.
Humidity
Plain outdoor humidity suits it fine, so there's no level to fuss over. Air movement counts for more than moisture aloft, because stagnant, crowded growth is what hands fungal twig blight its opening.
Feeding
Feeding rarely figures into growing this shrub. One balanced slow-release fertilizer in spring handles it, and only when growth looks thin. Pile on the nitrogen and you trade the fall color you planted it for against a flush of leafy green.
Pruning
Prune in late winter or early spring before new growth breaks, whether you're shaping it or cutting it back hard, which it shrugs off. Clipping away the spent fruit also curbs the seedlings that turn this plant into a headache.
Repotting
Burning bush is a landscape shrub that seldom calls a pot home, so repotting barely comes up. Should you grow a young one in a container, bump it up when roots circle the base, water races straight through, or the top growth stalls.
Size & spacing
Left to its own devices it climbs into a large shrub of 15 to 20 feet (4.5 to 6 m) tall and 8 to 12 feet (2.4 to 3.7 m) wide. Hand it that much room, or count on steady pruning to hold it in check.
When to plant
Burning bush is a hardy deciduous shrub, which keeps the calendar refreshingly plain. Get it in the ground in spring or fall while the weather stays mild, look for its low-key green flowers around May, and hold out for the main event when the leaves turn red in autumn beside the orange-red fruit.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Spring or fall
- Harvest: Inconspicuous yellow-green flowers in spring (about May), followed by red-purple fall foliage and orange-red fruit
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 4–8
Temperature: down to -34°C
Troubleshooting
Burning bush hands a grower very little trouble, and the few snags it does throw are easy to read. Lackluster fall color points straight at its site, while spots, webbing, or dieback flag a pest or a waterlogged root zone. Match what you spot below and jump on it before it travels.
Pinpricked leaves and thin webs when it turns hot
Faded, sandblasted leaves trailing fine webbing on their undersides are the calling card of spider mites, which explode in hot, dusty, dry stretches. Hold a sheet of white paper under a leaf, tap, and watch the specks scatter. Hit the foliage hard with a hose to knock them down, then chase them with horticultural oil or insecticidal soap, repeating to catch the hatch that follows.
Fix:
- Spray foliage forcefully with water to dislodge mites
- Apply horticultural oil or insecticidal soap
- Repeat treatments to break the mite life cycle
Twigs and small branches dying back
Random dead twigs and sunken cankers usually trace back to twig blight, a fungus that thrives in waterlogged ground. It surfaces wherever drainage lags or the soil simply never dries out. Cut well below every lesion, wipe your blades between cuts so you don't spread it down the branch, and put right the drainage that opened the door.
Fix:
- Prune out and dispose of affected twigs well below the damage
- Improve drainage and avoid overwatering
- Clean pruning tools between cuts
Stems caked in white scale, leaves yellowing fast
Crusty white and brown bumps gripping the stems give away euonymus scale, a sap-feeding insect that yellows leaves and slowly drains the plant's strength. Cut away the heaviest-coated stems and coat what remains in horticultural oil to smother the rest. The window that counts is late spring into summer, when the young crawlers are on the move and sprays can actually reach them.
Fix:
- Prune out heavily infested stems
- Apply horticultural oil to smother scale
- Treat crawlers when active in late spring to summer
Autumn leaves fizzle out, no red blaze
The whole payoff here is the autumn fireworks, so when the leaves drop a flat green instead of scarlet, the cause is almost always too little sun. Shaded plants put out healthy leaves yet never ignite, and a heavy nitrogen feed drives the same green growth and steals the color. Shift it into full sun, dial back the fertilizer, and that scarlet returns.
Fix:
- Relocate or transplant to a full-sun site
- Reduce or stop nitrogen fertilizing
- Thin overhanging vegetation to increase light
Toxicity
Count this entire shrub as poisonous. Its leaves, bark, and fruit pack alkaloids and cardiac glycosides that set off vomiting and diarrhea and, at larger amounts, throw the heartbeat off. It puts dogs, cats, horses, livestock, and people at risk alike, so keep the dropped berries and prunings well out of reach.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Moderate
Let a cat gnaw the leaves or fruit and you can expect drooling and vomiting, with diarrhea and a sore belly close behind. Push past a mouthful and the cardiac glycosides start scrambling the heartbeat, which tips a rough night into a true emergency.
Dogs Moderate
Within hours of sampling any part of the shrub, dogs typically vomit and pass loose, painful stools. A real mouthful drags in weakness and an off-kilter heart rhythm, making the vet the smart call.
Horses Moderate
With no way to vomit, a horse holds onto the toxins, which surface as colic, diarrhea, and a heavy, weak gait. Browse a serious amount and the heartbeat can falter, so phone the vet without delay.
Rabbits Toxic
Those same alkaloids and glycosides land hard on a rabbit's tiny frame, triggering gut stasis, diarrhea, and a swift downhill slide. Not one part of this plant belongs within a rabbit's reach.
Livestock Toxic
Cattle, sheep, and goats that browse the leaves or scoop up dropped fruit wind up with severe digestive upset and, at higher doses, perilous heart-rhythm trouble. Fence grazing animals away from any hedge or windbreak holding this shrub.
Birds Caution
Birds gulp the bright fruit and pass the seed intact, which is precisely how this shrub marches out into wild land. They cope with the arils, yet the seeds and leaves still pose a risk to caged or ground-feeding species.
People Caution
Nothing on this shrub belongs on a plate. Swallow the fruit or seeds and vomiting and diarrhea can follow, with a big dose carrying the same heart-rhythm danger, so steer curious kids clear of those flashy berries.
Keep fallen fruit and prunings away from pets and small children; ingestion of several leaves or seeds commonly causes gastrointestinal upset.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
A handful of named picks show up at garden centers, most of them smaller takes on the same plant. Keep in mind that not one of them clears the invasive problem.
Compactus
A dwarf winged pick that crests near 10 feet and packs in tighter than the species, yet it still loads up with seed and runs just as invasive.
Rudy Haag
A tightly built, slow grower that holds at roughly 3 to 5 feet tall and carries far less fruit than the rest.
How to propagate
Burning bush multiplies with ease, which is part of why it runs so wild in the field. You can strike cuttings on purpose or, all too commonly, find seedlings popping up on their own.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Softwood cuttings in early summer or semi-hardwood cuttings in mid to late summer · Several weeks to root, then grown on for a season or more
Pull softwood cuttings in early summer or grab semi-hardwood ones a touch later, dip the cut ends in rooting hormone, and hold them humid until they strike. Roots form across several weeks, after which they need a full season or more of growing on before they go in the ground.
SeedEasy
Seed sown after cleaning and cold stratification · Germinates readily; note that prolific self-seeding is the main reason this plant is invasive
Cleaned and cold-stratified seed germinates almost effortlessly, and that's exactly where the trouble starts. Birds devour the fruit and fling the seed all over, so this is how the shrub leaps the garden fence and goes invasive. Raising it from seed on purpose is best avoided.
Myths
Grab a dwarf burning bush and you are in the clear, since the compact ones never go rogue.
Compact picks like Compactus keep cranking out plenty of bird-carried seed, so they break loose into the wild every bit as easily as the full-size shrub. Burning bush is banned or regulated in several states no matter the cultivar, dwarf forms included.