Euonymus alatus
Winged Euonymus, Burning Bush
CELASTRACEAE, The Bittersweet family
This is one of the names my parents brought home from their landscape architecture course: winnnng’dee-ON-eh-moose. And there was one between the school and the church that had a bird’s nest in it.
Winged euonymus grows 8 by 8 feet. They do. They are not a good foundation planting, unless small trees fall within this category for you. In St. Anthony Park there is an old house, maybe a former governor’s house, that has two of these shrubs grown to full size. They spread out over the top of the iron fence, reaching gracefully. When I saw them there I understood this plant.
There is a compact form that grows about 4 to 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It has the best attributes of the species, that is, fiery pink fall color and corky protrusions along the branches that make it interesting in the winter. But the form is not as good.

