Euonymous

Is there a plant in my garden that I take more for granted than Euonymous? Possibly lawn grasses. Or the yews in front of the house. This is a plant that the builders chose 40 years ago, put in every other yard on my street, and moved on. We though, have to live with this choice.

I pulled most of my Euonymous out at least 10 years ago, moving them to the back edge of my yard where the deer can freely browse them all winter long. I still have a couple of these vigorous growers in the front yard though, and they require pruning (gasp!) twice a year.

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Not that I actually do it twice a year, but they're fast growers. There's one that has climbed a locust tree in the common ground behind my yard that is probably 40 feet (12m) tall. It may have died during last summer's drought.

One thing about Euonymous though, and the reason the builders probably planted so many: it's a tough plant that stays green all year.

Before I had all of the bamboo, Euonymous was a beacon of green in a sea of browns each winter.

It also produces a few berries each year, brilliant red gems briefly glowing in the green.

It seems like this plant wants to produce more of the inconspicuous flowers now, and I can't remember if that's unusual or not. I never really pay that much attention:

I have to admit that this is a pretty plant at this time of year.

Which is probably why the deer pay it so much attention.

I'm glad I didn't remove every single specimen of this plant!

(Does anybody know what species this is?)

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