General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Dry Mesic
Dry
Minimum cold hardiness: Zone 4a -34.4 °C (-30 °F) to -31.7 °C (-25 °F)
Plant Height: 4-6 feet
Plant Spread: 6-8 feet
Leaves: Good fall color
Deciduous
Other: May be a noxious weed or invasive.
Flowers: Inconspicuous
Uses: Windbreak or Hedge
Propagation: Seeds: Other info: Allow unblemished fruit to ripen, clean and dry seeds. Direct sow after last frost.
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Stem
Pollinators: Various insects
Awards and Recognitions: Other: 2004 Great Plant Picks Award Winner

Image
Common names
  • Dwarf Burning Bush
  • Burning Bush
  • Winged Spindle
  • Cork Bush
  • Winged Euonymus
Also sold as:
  • Compacta
  • Nanus
  • Nana

Photo Gallery
Location: central Illinois
Date: 2014-11-05
Location: Granite Falls, WA
Date: 2017-10-23
Location: Granite Falls, WA
Date: 2017-10-28
Location: Clinton, Michigan 49236
Date: 2015-10-29
"Euonymus alatus 'Compactus', 2015, dwarf-Winged burning bush, yo
Location: Holehird garden, Cumbria, UK
Date: 2014-09-22
Location: Oxfordshire, England
Date: 2016-10-30
Beautiful autumn colour
Location: South Jordan, Utah, United States
Date: 2021-11-11
Location: Clinton, Michigan 49236
Date: 2016-11-02
"Euonymus alatus 'Compactus', 2016, dwarf-Winged burning bush, yo
Location: I took this at a Doctor's office near my house.
Date: 2011-11-04
Great fall color.
Location: Corner garden
Date: October
Location: Denver Metro, CO
Date: October 2009
Burning Bush on the west side of my house.
Location: Millcreek, Utah, United States
Date: 2018-07-14
Trained as a standard.
Location: Pleasant Grove, Utah
Date: 2011-11-16
Location: Corner garden
Date: October
Location: West border
Date: 2015-10-21
Leaves starting to turn red
Location: Nora's Garden - Castlegar, B.C.
Date: 2016-09-18
 3:47 pm. The top leaves are already sun bleached in September.
Location: northeast Illinois
Date: 2016-08-26
shrub at corner of parent's house in 1970's
Location: In Merrifield Gardens, Falls Church, VA
Date: 2017-11-25
Location: Denver Metro CO
Date: October 2009
Looking from the north side of my house my burning bush (and hall
Location: Clinton, Michigan 49236
Date: 2015-05-21
"Euonymus alatus 'Compactus', 2015, dwarf-Winged burning bush, yo
Location: My yard, zone 4 Wisconsin
Date: 2012-04-28
Buds right before opening
Location: Nora's Garden - Castlegar, B.C.
Date: 2016-10-19
 1:38 pm. Bright orange seeds blend in with the red fall leaves.
Location: Denver Metro CO
Date: 2012-04-04
Itty Bitty baby leaves just waking up from the winter.
Location: Denver CO Metro
Date: 2012-01-27
Twin fruit against my fingers so you can see how tiny the fruit r
Location: Denver CO Metro
Date: 2012-01-27
Winter_shriveled fruit still in fruitpod
Location: Clinton, Michigan 49236
Date: 2015-05-21
"Euonymus alatus 'Compactus', 2015, dwarf-Winged burning bush, yo
Location: Clinton, Michigan 49236
Date: 2015-05-21
"Euonymus alatus 'Compactus', 2015, dwarf-Winged burning bush, yo

Courtesy American Daylily and Perennials
  • Uploaded by vic
Location: Denver Metro CO
Date: Spring 2007
Freshly shorn into a managable shape/size in the springtime, so y
Location: My yard, zone 4 Wisconsin
Date: 2012-04-28
Spring color
Location: My yard, zone 4 Wisconsin
Date: 2012-04-28
Spring color
Location: My yard, zone 4 Wisconsin
Date: 2012-04-28
Spring color
Location: Denver Metro, CO
Date: 2012-04-25
The \"flowers\" of a burning bush.  These will produce little tee
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Comments:
  • Posted by ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Oct 11, 2018 8:54 AM concerning plant:
    This Compact Winged Euonymus Burningbush is planted more commonly in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and upper South of the USA than the standard species that is also an abundant landscape plant, sold by most every conventional nursery. It normally gets about 5 to 6 feet high and a little wider for many years, but it can decide to eventually grow larger to 8 feet high and even sometimes to 10 feet high or more. Sometimes, the compact and standard stock get some mix up in nurseries. The old specimen of Compact Burningbush at the corner of my parent's house planted back in 1954 was about 6 feet high for the first 40 years and then decided to expand to 8 feet high and a little wider last time I saw it in 2016. The twigs of this compact cultivar only become slightly winged. It is a clean, neat, good-quality shrub that gets a good red fall color, though more pink in the shade. It develops a very dense fibrous root system around itself, so to add any plants around it after it is mature is very difficult. It develops dense foliage and is often used as a screen or sheared hedge. Like the larger standard Winged Euonymus, I think it is over-used and I would like to see more variety in landscapes. Its orange seeds are eaten by some birds, and it escapes cultivation to have progeny grow as an invasive Asian plants along or in woods in eastern North America, that usually revert to being the standard species.
  • Posted by Skiekitty (Denver Metro - Zone 5a) on Apr 14, 2014 10:59 AM concerning plant:
    "Compacta." HA! I just ripped mine out. It was over 10 ft tall and had a diameter of over 14 ft, and I had already chopped almost half of it off! Shallow rootball, sends out thick roots sideways rather than down. Huge mess of feeder roots as well. Magnificent red foliage, but only if you get a quick cold snap. Otherwise, the leaves first turn purple and then red. Tolerates shade, tolerates terrible soil.
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christine2 On May 1, 2008 Obtained plant
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