Deciduous shrubFoundation plantingDrought tolerantFall colorFast growing

Burning Bush

Euonymus alatus

Planted for brilliant red fall colour on a dense, rounded shrub. It's invasive across much of the East and Midwest, where birds carry its seed into woods, and several states, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania among them, ban its sale. Native arrowwood viburnum or black chokeberry give similar fall colour.

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Burning Bush: whole plant — Photo: 정용국, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 9.5 × 11 ft; 2.9 × 3.5 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 4a–8a; USDA
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Dry to moist
Fall color: Oct–Nov

Burning Bush at its mature size

A mature Burning Bush grows 8 to 11 feet tall and 8 to 14 feet wide, taller than most people.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension.

Through the year

What Burning Bush looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.

Dormant · Dec–Mar

Bare dense twiggy branches with thin corky wings.

In leaf · Apr–Sep

Dense medium to dark green small elliptic leaves.

Fall · Oct–Nov

Brilliant uniform fiery scarlet-red.

Photos

Burning Bush: flowers — Flowers · I, KENPEI, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Burning Bush: fall color — Fall color · Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Burning Bush: detail — Detail · Terry.grignon, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Burning Bush

Grows well in

The Northeast, the Southeast, the Midwest, the Plains and Mountain West, and the Pacific Northwest.

Growth rate

Fast

Good for

Foundation planting, drought tolerant, fall color, and fast growing

Leaves

Drops its leaves in winter

Native to

Northeast Asia

State lists

Listed as invasive in Connecticut, with sales banned from October 1, 2028. Connecticut Invasive Plant List

Prohibited in Delaware, so it can’t be sold there. Delaware Invasive Plant List

Prohibited in Maine, so it can’t be sold there. Do Not Sell Invasive Plant List (Chapter 273)

Prohibited in Maryland, so it can’t be sold there. Maryland Prohibited Invasive Plant List

Prohibited in Massachusetts, so it can’t be sold there. Massachusetts Prohibited Plant List

Prohibited in Minnesota, so it can’t be sold there. Minnesota Noxious Weed List

Listed as invasive in Missouri, with sales banned from January 1, 2029. Missouri invasive plant sales ban (RSMo 263.070)

Prohibited in New Hampshire, so it can’t be sold there. New Hampshire Prohibited Invasive Plant Species List (Agr 3800)

Listed as invasive in New Jersey, with sales banned from January 1, 2030. Prohibited Invasive Plant List (Invasive Species Management Act, 2026)

Listed as invasive in New York. Prohibited and Regulated Invasive Species (6 NYCRR Part 575)

Prohibited in Pennsylvania, so it can’t be sold there. Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Lists

Prohibited in Vermont, so it can’t be sold there. Regulated Introduced Plant Species Quarantine List

Listed as invasive in Virginia. Virginia Invasive Plant Species List

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Burning Bush, that’s about 11 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.