Far from anonymous€¦ · percent of its nursery stock to retail gar-den centers, so he knows the market. “Euonymus is a commodity in every Evergreen and deciduous Euonymus plants

By Elizabeth Petersen“Bread and butter.” These are

the words garden center owners and wholesale growers use to describe the importance of euonymus to their businesses.

Lynette Shonnard, owner of Shonnard’s Nursery in Corvallis, Ore., counts on euonymus for consistent sales. “Euonymus are part of the 20 24

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percent of plants that are responsible for almost 80 percent of the revenue stream,” she said.

Chris Steinke, sales manager for wholesale grower Youngblood Nursery in Keizer, Ore., moves them in large numbers. Youngblood supplies about 95 percent of its nursery stock to retail gar-den centers, so he knows the market.

“Euonymus is a commodity in every

Evergreen and deciduous Euonymus plants are popular workhorses in the garden

Far from anonymous

The various Burning Bush selections are some of the most popular commercially-available selections of Euonymus. Their intense fall color captures the attention. This one in particular is called Cole's Compact (Euonymus alatus ‘Cole's Compact’).

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garden center,” Steinke said.The reason euonymus plants are

consistently in demand?“They do their job and they do it

well,” Steinke said. Plants are not hard to grow and they provide eye-catching structure for the garden.

The evergreen selections, many of which are variegated, are often used to make small to medium, formal or informal hedges. They are “workhorse” plants, Steinke said.

Kevin Klupenger, general manager for Advanced Ornamentals in St. Paul, Ore., has grown euonymus for years. “They are darned dependable, nice looking and a valuable nursery crop,” Klupenger said. “They are bread and butter plants that sell pretty well year in and year out.”

Recently there has been higher

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Emerald 'N Gold Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald 'N Gold') makes a nice groundcover and will also climb if trained and supported. Its bright, green and gold variegated foliage changes colors in the fall.

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demand for fewer plants, Klupenger said, and euonymus varieties are still in the mix.

Advanced Ornamentals supplies containerized stock, mostly #1s, for bro-kers, rewholesalers and garden centers across the country. About 75 percent of the stock goes to the Midwest and East Coast, Klupenger said.

“Everybody grows ‘Compacta,’” Steinke pointed out, “and it has been around forever.”

The plant is also known in the trade as E. a. var. compacta, E. alatus ‘Compactus’ and E. alata ‘Compactus’. Dozens of Oregon growers list it in the OAN Nursery Guide. Most of them offer it as containerized material, but some also offer it in B&B or bareroot. Youngblood Nursery offers it in #5 containers.

‘Compacta’ is especially popular because its brilliant color is so eye-catching in the fall, Klupenger said.

Known as Burning Bush for its flaming red fall foliage and Winged Euonymus to describe its unusual stems, the compact, deciduous selec-tion is by far the most popular, abun-dantly available cultivar of euonymus. Cold hardy to Zone 5, the medium-size shrub (eight feet tall and wide) makes striking mass plantings and for-mal hedges.

“Euonymus is a broad genus,” said Darren Morgan, nursery manager and buyer for Shonnard’s Nursery. “The deciduous varieties sell primarily by impulse, although many designers like them too. Intense fall color on the Euonymus alatus ‘Compacta’ and

“They are bread and

butter plants that sell

pretty well year in and

year out.”

— Kevin Klupengeradvanced ornamentals

the newer, smaller E. a. ‘Little Moses’ makes these some of my best selling fall shrubs.”

Need for a sterile varietyA note of caution is in order: the

species, Euonymus alatus, has become too aggressive in some areas where abun-dant seed has sprouted beyond gardens and become invasive. The Delaware River Invasive Plant Partnership has this to say about E. alatus:

“While it behaves well in urban areas, burning-bush planted near woodlands, mature second-growth forests, and pastures can be a prob-lem. It has escaped from cultivation in the Northeast and Midwest, notably in Connecticut, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.

“The earliest evidence of natural-


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Euonymus fortunei 'Harlequin' makes an excellent evergreen groundcover. It is intensely variegated, with hues of dark green, lighter green and ivory.

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ized populations of winged euonymus in eastern Pennsylvania dates from the 1960s. Today it is found with increasing frequency in moist forests throughout eastern counties.”

A new sterile variety of E. alatus to solve the invasiveness problem may be introduced shortly.

At the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Professor Yi Li’s laboratory has developed a seedless variety of Euonymus alatus. It retains the popu-lar brilliant foliage but eliminates its ability to spread and become invasive.

This explanation was published on the UConn website on August 19, 2011: “‘The availability of a triploid seedless, non-invasive variety of burn-ing bush creates a win-win situation for both consumers and commercial nurseries,’ says Li, head of UConn’s Transgenic Plant Facility and director of the New England Invasive Plant Center at the Storrs campus. The bush is an extremely popular ornamental plant for landscapers and gardeners because of its intense red autumn foliage and robust ability to grow in a wide range of soils and environmental conditions. In addition, the plant has very few pest or disease problems.”

“For consistent year-

round sales, the

evergreen varieties

are champions.”

— Darren Morganshonnard's nursery

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Moonshadow Euonymus (E. fortunei 'Moonshadow') leaves have a distinctive yellow blotch at the center. This creeper can also be used in container arrangements as a spiller.

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Common and unique evergreensQuite unlike the deciduous E.

alatus in looks, evergreen and semi-evergreen selections of euonymus provide handsome foliage, which is often variegated.

The plants make reliable choices for hedges, edging and groundcovers. They tolerate tough conditions, includ-ing the salty, windy conditions of coast-al regions. Oregon growers offer an assortment of both industry standards and unique specialty selections.

“For consistent year-round sales, the evergreen varieties are champions,” Morgan said. “Sales on these varieties roughly split between impulse sale and design spec.”

Cultivars of E. fortunei (Wintercreeper Euonymus) come in a variety of forms. ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’

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Euonymus japonicus ‘Microphyllus Butterscotch’ is a small-leaved Euonymus selection that's ideal for small spaces, short hedges, or edges. The brilliant, variegated color is a step up from other options.


and ‘Emerald Gaiety’ are medium-sized shrubs that accent countless commercial and residential properties nationwide.

Both of these dwarf shrubs can be trained to climb if given support. ‘Emerald 'N Gold’ boasts dark green leaves edged with wide bands of gold. In winter, the golden bands turn creamy-white with touches of pink.

Low-growing ‘Emerald Gaiety’ is a steadfast staple that fits into any land-scape to line out a walkway or create a low hedge or edging. Its deep green leaves are edged in white and tinged with pink in winter.

Improved selections provide more choices.

E. fortunei ‘Harlequin’ is a newer cultivar that is popular among the cus-tomers of Youngblood Nursery, because it looks nice grown in clusters as a small groundcover. “It is still gaining in popularity, but we can’t keep up with demand,” Steinke said.

Hardier and brighter than ‘Emerald Gaiety,’ the low-growing, heavily varie-gated, green and ivory evergreen shrub takes cold as low as Zone 4.

“For small shrub and ground-cover use, we prefer E. fortunei ‘Moonshadow’,” said Morgan of Shonnard’s Nursery, although the older

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Emerald 'N Gold Wintercreeper Euonymus leaves will turn a burgundy color with salmon-pink margins in the fall. The creeper will put down new roots wherever the stems touch the ground.


E. f. ‘Emerald Gaiety’ still sells too.E. fortunei ‘Wolong Ghost,’

although variegated, develops a com-pletely different type of variegation: its dark green leaves are accented with silvery white along the veins instead of the edges.

“I really like it,” Steinke said of the rare and unusual, prostrate, evergreen shrub, “but it is not in the mainstream yet.” Well suited as a ground cover, it has potential for the market.

E. japonicus (Japanese Euonymus) cultivars offer landscapers and gar-deners another type of ornamental evergreen shrub or small tree. Very adaptable to all types of soil and condi-tions, these cultivars are widely grown in sun or shade.

E. j. ‘Microphyllus’ and ‘Microphyllus Variegata,’ which have


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As with many Euonymus selections, the leaf variegation on Silver King (E. japonicus 'Silver King') has a texture that resembles a watercolor painting. Silver King can be grouped to form a hedge, and has more pizzazz than the average hedge plant.

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leaves reminiscent of boxwood, are very popular.

“‘Microphyllus Variegata’ makes a great substitute for boxwood as a small formal or informal hedge,” Steinke said. The plant’s small green and white leaves are held closely together on upright stems, and the slow-growing, upright evergreen reaches about two and a half feet tall and wide.

Morgan recommends little leaf selections of E. japonicus, includ-ing ‘Microphyllus Butterscotch’, Silver Princess™, and ‘Microphyllus’ “for small spaces and in place of boring boxwood for small edging.”

For larger accent and hedg-ing plants, the E. j. varieties ‘Aureomarginata’ and ‘Silver Queen’ give consistent performance and great color, Morgan said.

The narrow, columnar E. j. ‘Green Spire’ makes an attractive upright accent, its dark green, evergreen leaves pres-

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Euonymus japonica 'Rokujo Variegata' is a miniature ideal for collectors and smalll containers, reaching only about 8 inches tall. The leaves are tiny, with green and white variegation.



ent year-round. It is so popular as to be “almost a commodity,” said Steinke.

Youngblood offers ‘Green Spire’ in #1, #2 and #5 pots, but the big-gest demand is in the smaller sizes. Rewholesalers want as big as they can get, though, Steinke said.

For the collector’s garden and tiny spaces, Youngblood includes E. japonicus ‘Rokujo Variegata’ in its Tiny Treasures collection in four-inch pots. Sporting tiny white and green leaves, the mini-shrub gets only six to eight inches tall and three inches wide.

“The rare, most unique, very upright evergreen selection is a choice selection,” Steinke said.

For something different — and quite a bit larger — Morgan’s personal favorite is E. europeaus ‘Red Ace.’

“In the late summer, before the fall leaf color develops, the rather large bright berries give a nice extension to the season,” he said.

Elizabeth Petersen writes for gardeners and garden businesses, coaches stu-dents and writers, and tends a one-acre garden in West Linn, Ore. She can be reached at [email protected].

Thank you to our corporate partnersfor supporting the Oregon Association of Nurseries

and the 2012 Farwest Show

2012

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Looking for a tall and narrow plant rather than a groundcover or short hedge? There’s a Euonymus for that as well. Euonymus japonicus ’Greenspire’ fits into tight spaces and requires a minimum of clipping to keep its appearance tidy.

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Far from anonymous€¦ · percent of its nursery stock to retail gar-den centers, so he knows the market. “Euonymus is a commodity in every Evergreen and deciduous Euonymus plants

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