# Running Strawberry Bush (Euonymus obovatus)

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

Family: Celastraceae (bittersweet family). Also called running euonymus, Euonymus obovata. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/running-strawberry-bush/

![Running strawberry bush (Euonymus obovatus) small greenish purple flowers among broad toothed leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/running-strawberry-bush-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AEuonymus_obovatus_2017-05-23_0516.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 to 2 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 7
- Grows wild in: The forest understory, rich moist slopes and dry uplands
- Native range: 13 states, north to [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), south to [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA) and west to [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO) ([Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC) and [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN))
- Sun: Shade, Part
- Soil moisture: Average
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: May to June
- Fruit: Capsules, August to October
- First crop: —
- Mature spread: —
- Traits: Tolerates shade, Fall color, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

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

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

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.

## Sources

- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Euonymus obovatus](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EUOB8)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online (International Dendrology Society), after Bean: Euonymus obovatus](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/euonymus/euonymus-obovatus/)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 12: Euonymus obovatus, Ma and Levin](http://floranorthamerica.org/Euonymus_obovatus)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Euonymus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Euonymus.pdf)
- [University of Michigan, CLIMBERS, Burnham: Euonymus obovatus](https://climbers.lsa.umich.edu/euonymus-obovata/)
- [Natural Resources Canada, Canada's Plant Hardiness Site: Euonymus obovatus](https://planthardiness.gc.ca/index.php?m=7&speciesid=3169122&lang=en)
- [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Euonymus obovatus](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:99397-2)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Euonymus obovatus](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.153002/Euonymus_obovatus)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Low native shrubs and groundcovers for sun, shade, sand and bog](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/low-native-shrubs-and-groundcovers/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [What a young tree looks like: first-year seedlings of oak, walnut, hickory, chestnut, maple and redbud, and the weed trees to pull](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-a-young-tree-looks-like/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other Euonymus (spindle trees) we grow: [Eastern Wahoo](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-wahoo/index.html.md), [Strawberry Bush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/strawberry-bush/index.html.md)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Mapleleaf Viburnum](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mapleleaf-viburnum/index.html.md), [Alabama Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/alabama-azalea/index.html.md), [Flame Azalea](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/flame-azalea/index.html.md) and [Bigleaf Witch Hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bigleaf-witch-hazel/index.html.md)
- Trees to plant it under: [Florida Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-maple/index.html.md), [American Holly, select line](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-holly/index.html.md) and [Red Mulberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-mulberry/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Strawberry Bush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/strawberry-bush/index.html.md), [Eastern Wahoo](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-wahoo/index.html.md), [Alabama Snow-wreath](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/alabama-snow-wreath/index.html.md) and [Staghorn Sumac](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/staghorn-sumac/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Running Strawberry Bush, add ?species=running-strawberry-bush with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 5, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=running-strawberry-bush&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Running Strawberry Bush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=running-strawberry-bush): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Running Strawberry Bush as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=running-strawberry-bush (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Running Strawberry Bush is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=running-strawberry-bush (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Running Strawberry Bush needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 1 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=running-strawberry-bush:1
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Running Strawberry Bush where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=running-strawberry-bush&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Running Strawberry Bush goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=running-strawberry-bush&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Running Strawberry Bush flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=running-strawberry-bush