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Moonshine Designs Nursery Located in Milan, Illinois 309-756-1967 Fax: 309-756-1058
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Burning Bush Culture
(Euonymus alata )
Excellent plant form that provides winter interest with its winged twigs.
Brilliant red fall color.
Height: 10-12'
Width: 10-12'
Hardiness Zone: 4a
Excellent large shrub for landscape use. The plant's interesting winged branches
add considerable interest to the winter landscape. Often used for sheared
or unsheared hedges.
Full sun to full shade
Prefers moist, well-drained, slightly acidic soils in full sun, but is very adaptable to poor soils, compacted soils, various soil pHs, heat, drought, periodic shearing, and pollution (and is therefore very urban tolerant), and is also quite adaptable to partial to full shade (where growth is less vigorous and fall color is a mixture of pink-red and faded yellow)
Develops better fall coloration in a sunny location.
Can be trained into a small tree.
No serious insect or disease problems.
Seed culture:
The seeds have not been pre-stratified, so, for best results: Soak for 24 hours in warm water. Remove the orange outer coating by gently rubbing. Sow the seeds in a seed starting mix such as Jiffy Mix that is moist, but NOT SOAKING WET in a zip-lock bag and put in the fridge for at least 90 days. Remove from refrigerator and keep soil mix at 65-75 degrees and moist until sprouted. Keep out of the sun or they will cook! As soon as sprouts become apparent, plant into small pots or a flat using a good seed-starting potting mix. Water as needed, but do not flood. Do not let them dry out either! Transplant when the first two true leaves are well developed if not using individual pots. Use of biodegradable pots (peat pots) or Jiffy-7s are a good choice. Just plant the whole thing when transplanting out. Transplant out when the seedlings are about 4-6 inches tall. If the time for the plant to establish itself outside is short, mulch heavily for the first winter using straw or other loose material. Remove in the spring. You can further accelerate germination by pre-soaking in warm water for 24 hours before stratification. Anyone who has soaked dried beans before cooking is familiar with the process of softening up the shell. When the outer shell is softened it allows the contents to expand. Do not allow the seeds to dry out but sow them immediately using the remaining solution to water the soil or other growing medium. Have the bags or containers of growing medium or soil ready for planting as soon as the soaking period is complete.
May also be sown outdoors in the fall for germination in spring.