Photo: Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · Wikimedia Commons

Running Strawberry Bush

Scientific name: Euonymus obovatus · Family: Celastraceae (bittersweet family)

Also called running euonymus, Euonymus obovata.

A trailing woodland ground cover whose stems root as they creep, with warty pink capsules that split in fall to show orange-scarlet seeds.

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Saplings ship bare-root or in a pot, in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated here with the price, once available.

We grow it as saplings and seed. One email when it is listed with prices, and nothing else. Or ask, and we reply with what is ready now. Live plants ship February to May and October to November.

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Tolerates shadeFall colorWildlife value

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 1–2 ft
USDA zones: 5–7
Growth rate: Fast
Flowers: May to June
Fruit: Capsules, August to October
First crop: —
Mature spread: —
Sun: Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average
Grows wild in: The forest understory, rich moist slopes and dry uplands
Native range: 13 states, north to Michigan, south to Georgia and west to Missouri
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Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Tennessee
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Running strawberry bush is a trailing euonymus, a low ground cover of rich woods whose stems creep along the ground and root as they go. It is the creeping kin of the strawberry bush and eastern wahoo we also grow, which stand upright. Like the strawberry bush, it bears warty capsules that open on brightly coated seeds. In fall its leaves turn purple, maroon and pink, and once they drop, the bright green stems show through winter. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in South Carolina. Use it as a deciduous ground cover in shade under trees, where its stems can root and knit into a mat.

Size, growth and what to expect

Running strawberry bush grows fast, 6 inches to a foot a year in our growth estimator. Its trailing stems stand 1 to 2 feet high at most and root as they creep, so a planting spreads into a dense mat. The leaves, 1 to 3 inches long, are broadest near the tip and finely toothed.

Small greenish purple flowers, about a quarter inch across, open in May and June. The pink to crimson capsules, warty and usually three-lobed, ripen from August into October and split to show seeds in orange-scarlet coats. Birds eat the seeds and carry them off.

It grows wild from western New York and southern Ontario west to Michigan, Illinois and Missouri, and south through the Appalachians to Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. Its home is rich woods, dry to damp, along with thickets and wooded slopes, often on limy soil.

How to grow Running Strawberry Bush

Running strawberry bush grows in shade or part shade, like the woods it comes from. It wants a rich, moist soil that drains, and it takes ground that is dry or damp at times. Set plants 2 feet apart and keep them 2 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and mulch with leaves, clear of the stems. Pick the ripe capsules in late summer or fall. Sow the cleaned seed outdoors in fall, a quarter inch deep, before it dries. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for two to five months first.

Water it every day for the first two weeks after planting, then every two to three days until week 12. After that, water weekly through the first two summers in dry spells. Let the trailing stems root where they touch the ground, and they knit into a mat. Deer eat the leaves and twigs of its relative strawberry bush, so cage young plants where deer are many.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Bees and flies carry its pollen. A scale insect common on its relatives rarely troubles it. Its genus is known for poisoning cattle, so keep it from grazing animals and treat every part as poisonous if eaten.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

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