Foliage Friday - Burning Bush

Happy Foliage Friday! Are you absolutely loving the change in leaves? I sure am! And honestly, I sort of wish the weather would cool back off, these 80+ degree days make it hard to enjoy the changing leaves and Halloween decorations! But anyway, back to trees!

Ready for a Foliage Friday update? I hope so! Here is your friendly plant post, where I talk about a plant I love and hopefully convince you to either plant it or just be more knowledgeable about it.

Plant: Euonymus alatus, Burning bush

Burning bush in fall

Why: To go along with the changing leaves, I was trying to think of a plant that has a wonderful fall color and I thought of the burning bush immediately. My parents have 2 in their back yard, my friend Maria has one in her front yard, and I am just in love with the color. I know you're probably shocked that I'm not posting about a TREE, but it's ok. It's probably only temporary. :)

Landscape info: Like I mentioned, this really isn't a tree, it's more of a bush. If not trimmed, they can get pretty big (20 feet tall), but most of all, if taken care of, this is more of a shrub around 5-10 feet or so. It does best in an area of full sun and well trained soil. As you can probably tell by its name, it develops a gorgeous (obviously biased) fall color in late September that can range between shades of red, orange, and even pink. LOVE!

A close up of the burning bush's leaves

In summer, the leaves are usually a dark green color. It does well transplanted and has very few to no reported pest problems to be concerned about.

Burning bush in summer

Other uses: Sorry, I couldn't find anything!

Fun facts: Is this really a fun fact? Not sure... but the burning bush can actually be classified as an invasive species in some areas. Before you plant it, it's always a good idea to check its classification. Your garden center should (key word: should) be knowledgeable about this. As I mentioned above, there is a wide variety of colors the burning bush can be in fall, and there are at least 15 different cultivars!

Thanks for joining me for yet another Foliage Friday! Anything at all you'd like to know more about? Leave me a comment!


Information and pictures from: http://www.hort.uconn.edu and http://www.bhg.com