Euonymous europaeus 'Red Ace'

My Favorite Plant in the Garden This Week...

From the gospel according to Hinkley, (Heronswood: 1999 eueurre  p. 78)

"This selected form of the European Spindle Tree has exceptionally profuse crops of magical red-pink dingle-dangly fruit and orange-red autumn leaf color in full sun or partial shade in any soil. 

To 15'.  This acts as a beacon in our light woodland when in full fruit, drawing visitors across the garden to seek its identity."  Hardy to zone 5.

 

I wrote about this plant last year on October 26.  You can see that post here.  It's interesting to see that the leaves have changed color a little sooner this year.  Maybe silly to post about this plant twice but it is truly a gem and gives such a nice burst of color starting mid to late September.

You may recall that Euonymus latifolius was my favorite plant on September 3 of this year.  While that plant has long since finished blooming and is now shedding bight yellow-gold leaves, E.europaeus 'Red Ace' is still full of fruit.  These first pictures were taken about a week or so ago.

The next pictures were taken today.  The colors of the changing leaves along with the fruit is spectacular!

It can take quite a bit of pruning.  When I got this it was a nicely trimmed full shrub.  I tend to let things grow out a little more than I should so this looks a little wild but that works for me.

Just saying that if you want something a little more reserved, you can certainly make this shrub fit the bill.

 

The autumn foliage is quite lovely and also works well with the fruit. 

Some branches had this lovely dark wine red foliage which really set off the fruit.

For more information about this plant, look here, here, and here.

 Just couldn't stop taking pictures of this sweet plant!

My favorite plant this week is a meme hosted by my pal Loree Bohl, the inspirational writer of Danger Garden.  To see this weeks favorite plants of other bloggers click here.