Photo: Jessie Snow, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Strawberry Bush

Euonymus americanus

Also called American strawberry bush, bursting heart, hearts-a-busting, brook euonymus.

Warty crimson capsules split open in fall to show orange-red seeds, on a slender woodland shrub with square green stems.

Wildlife valueFall colorTolerates shadeTolerates wet soilWinter interest

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 4–6 ft
USDA zones: 6–9
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: The forest understory, rich moist slopes, stream banks and floodplain forests
Native range: 23 states and the District of Columbia, north to New York, south to Florida and west to Texas
List all 24
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia
See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Strawberry bush is a slender, suckering shrub of moist woods in the East and South, and a native relative of the Asian burning bush. Its name comes from the warty red fruit, and bursting heart from the way the ripe capsule splits to show its seeds. Its twigs are green and square. Illinois lists it as threatened and New York as endangered, at the northern edge of its range. In winter the stems stay a deep green and give the shrub some color. Set it in a shaded bed or along a woodland path, where the fall fruit can be seen up close.

Size, growth and what to expect

It grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. It makes a loose, sprawling shrub 4 to 6 feet tall and as wide, and some plants reach about 12 feet. It spreads by rhizomes into a clump.

Small flowers with five greenish yellow petals and purple stamens, a third of an inch across, open in May and June. The warty capsules, up to three quarters of an inch across, ripen in September and October and split to show orange-red seeds. Songbirds, wild turkeys and small mammals eat the seeds. The leaves turn red in fall.

It grows wild from New York and Illinois south to Florida and Texas. Its home is wooded slopes, ravines, low sandy woods and stream banks.

How to grow Strawberry Bush

Strawberry bush grows best in part shade, and it takes nearly full shade, though it fruits best in light shade. It wants a moist, rich soil that drains, and it takes clay and ground that floods at times. It can be planted near black walnut. Plant it 3 feet from a wall, and set plants 3 feet apart for a group. 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 keep the mulch clear of the stems. Pick the capsules just before they split. Sow the cleaned seed outdoors in fall, a quarter inch deep, before it dries. For spring, hold it damp in the refrigerator for 90 to 140 days first. Seed is a less reliable way to raise it than cuttings, and the one recorded test sprouted 15 percent.

Water weekly through the first summer in dry spells. Deer seek out its leaves and twigs, and rabbits browse it too. Keep it caged or fenced wherever deer come. It needs little pruning, and stems that touch the ground take root.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and a lone shrub sets seed with its own pollen. Ants carry most of its pollen. Watch for euonymus scale, to which it is susceptible. Every part is mildly poisonous if eaten in quantity.

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

Sources (12)