What's Hot Now: Emerald 'n Gold Wintercreeper or Euonymus

What do all of these plants have in common?

Hmm, well, they are all the same kind of plant!  Emerald 'n Gold Wintercreeper is named Euonymus fortunei, appropriately.  It's a surprising plant that doesn't realize that most plants like tidy labels, such as "groundcover," "climber," or "shrub."  It's all of these things, as well as evergreen and as you can see, it takes on various colors in the winter, depending on how much sun and cold exposure it has.  Ideally, it would be grown in full sun, but mine is in mostly shade and in a protected pocket.  So my Euonymus takes on very little pink coloration normally.  In the photo, the ones in the middle apparently just came in from the nursery greenhouse, and so haven't been exposed to the cold, while the ones on either side have, and therefore, have taken on those great colors.

And while Euonymus normally functions as a ground cover or low growing, spreading shrub, it will climb, given proper support.  As an added bonus, wherever the stems touch the ground, it will root and spread.  In fact, I did some "experimental propagation" last summer and literally hacked a couple of runners off of my main Euonymus, planted them elsewhere in beds and voila!  I have little Emerald 'n Golds springing up along a once bare bed.

There are other kinds of Euonymus, some that function as ground covers and others that are truly shrubs.  But I selected this for "What's Hot" because of its sun flexibility, evergreen presence, and color variety.  Check the species and variety before picking up that Euonymus at the nursery.  Also keep in mind that the plants in the photo are young and small.  My Euonymus is at least five years old and is about 6' by 6', so keep that in mind when purchasing and planting.