Wintercreeper Care Tips: 4 Types of Euonymus Plants

Wintercreeper plants (Euonymus fortunei) are broadleaf, herbaceous, perennial flowering plants identifiable by their dark green leaves and lighter green flower color. Members of the Celastraceae family, they bloom in the early spring. Other common names include “spindle” or “Fortune’s spindle”—after the botanist Robert Fortune.

Wintercreeper species are native plants in East Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan, growing plentifully in natural areas. They’re less prominent in North America, given how easily they become invasive plants in home gardens. On account of their fast growth rate and drive to occupy as much territory as possible, you should consider planting them in a secluded area of your garden, so they don’t interfere with your other plants’ growth.

There are many different species of wintercreeper to suit your aesthetic and size preferences. Here are four common wintercreeper cultivars:

1. 1. Euonymus fortunei 'Coloratus’: These purple wintercreeper plants live up to their nickname. Their distinctive appearance in spring makes for a unique fall color as well.
2. 2. Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’: Peppered with variegated evergreen leaves, ‘Emerald Gaiety’ plants show off hints of white in their foliage. They can climb like vines (sometimes upward of sixty feet) or spread out as ornamental ground cover, depending on how you prune and train them to grow.
3. 3. Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ‘n’ Gold’: This plant type boasts a dark green foliage color fringed with bright yellow. Consider using this plant as a tall mounding shrub.
4. 4. Euonymus fortunei ‘Minimus’: As the nickname suggests, this wintercreeper variant is smaller than many of its close relatives. It makes for a better evergreen ground cover plant than a climbing vine as a result.

Wintercreeper plants grow well on their own, but they can benefit from some extra help.

1. 1. Achieve the right soil conditions. Try to plant this fast-growing shrub in soil that’s partly alkaline and partly acidic. Keep the soil moist but ensure it can drain properly. Maintain a balance between being too dry or too wet for the best results.
2. 2. Assess the risk. At the end of the day, these are invasive plants, so you should treat wintercreeper with a diligent eye. Forgo planting wintercreeper close to other plants, as it can interfere with their root systems. Plant it in an open section of your garden, on a trellis, or as a vine along a wall far from your other plants. If any problems arise, use herbicide or pluck it out of the ground by the bare roots.
3. 3. Consider your climate. Wintercreeper plants grow in USDA Hardiness Zones 4–9, meaning they can withstand winter temperatures from negative thirty to positive thirty degrees Fahrenheit. Consult a USDA Hardiness Zone map to see if your region can accommodate wintercreeper plants.
4. 4. Fend off pests and diseases. These plants face the same aphids and insects as many other plants, alongside a more unique pest: the euonymus scale bug. In any case, treat your leaves with an insecticide to keep an infestation from gaining more ground. As for diseases, the best course is prevention rather than treatment. Keep your plants well-lit and well-watered to avoid issues like anthracnose, crown gall tumors, leaf spot, and mildew.
5. 5. Furnish adequate light. These plants do better in full sun than in full shade, but a balance of partial sun and partial shade is the most preferable lighting. Although you should distance them from other plants because of their invasive properties, wintercreeper plants grow so tall that they can end up providing heavy shade to the rest of your garden.
6. 6. Provide moderate water. Give your wintercreeper plants just enough water—keep the soil moist but never soggy or muddy. A moderate amount of water is all it takes to make these showy plants really happy.
7. 7. Prune and propagate properly. Wintercreeper plants can reach a mature height of over sixty feet, so it’s important to prune them if they become unwieldy. To propagate these plants, just plant a stem cutting in another section of your garden.

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