It's time for Burning Bush to be extinguished.

This beautiful red leaved shrub is not a Burning Bush, it's Hypericum frondosum and it will take care of your late fall/early winter color needs while being a wildlife friendly shrub.

Hypericum frondosum

Euonymus alatus, known as winged spindle, winged Euonymus or burning bush, is a species of flowering plant that's neither native nor wildlife worthy.

Brilliant red late fall/early winter color on Hypericum frondosum

Whenever a friend waxes poetically about the fall beauty of Burning Bush, I agree with them that it does have lovely fall color, then, use the opportunity to gently educate that not all plants sold in local nurseries (Dear Nursery Owners) or seen in our neighbors' yards are native or good for the ecosystem. 

I tell them "the problem with Burning bush shrubs and some non-natives is how easily they can become invasive. Birds eat the seeds and then poop them in woodlands, forests and neighboring yards; once established they can sucker (spread from roots) like crazy creating a dense thicket that out competes natives."

Education is one of the best tools we have to encourage neighbors and friends to avoid invasives and plant more natives. Sometimes, they listen and for that I am grateful.

 The Hypercolored Hypericums in my garden in mid-December have wowed many a gardener away from Burning Bush.

It isn't just a one season wonder like Burning Bush. Add pollen rich golden flowers that are a magnet for pollinators, blue-green summer foliage, reddish-brown seed heads, exfoliating winter bark, excellent wildlife value to its fall hypercolored show  and you have a year round beauty.

If you haven't already extinguished Burning Bush from your garden, now is a good time to plant critter friendly shrubs like Hypericum frondosum. But, you don't have to take my word for it, let my garden do the talking, you're welcome to stop by to check it out!

When the deepest freeze finally ends its blazing glory, this is what I see most of the winter.

xoxogail 

PS Other natives that make wonderful alternatives to BB are: Oakleaf hydrangea/Hydrangea quercifolia, Arrowwood Viburnum/Viburnum dentatum, Virginia sweetspire/Itea virginica,  blueberry/Vacciniums, witch-alder/Fothergilla gardenii.


Thanks for stopping by, now pop over to May Dreams Gardens  to see other Garden Blogger Bloom Day posts! After that stop by Pam/Digging for Foliage Followup.


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Hypericum's Hypercolored Hoorah For 2011

Hypericum frondosum is a study in yellows, golds and burgundies starting in November and lasting through December.

It's singing its next to the last song for the season.  Next to last,  because once the hypercolored leaves drop off there will still be  peeling bark and hints of new growth.  It's a year round beauty that makes Clay and Limestone, well, Clay and Limestone!  It just wouldn't be the same with out it!

  When I planted H frondosum 'Sunburst' twenty years ago, I had no idea that it would revert to species and spread its progeny over the garden.  The species is lankier and taller than the cultivar, but, it doesn't matter; the flowers are still beautiful and attract some of my favorite pollinators. 

the reddish-brown fruit capsules really pop during the fall

Cedarglade St. John's-wort, Hypericum frondosum, Golden St Johswort are a few of its common names.  It's as happy in a tamed woodland as it would be in its native oak-hickory-red cedar woodland near a cedar glade.

If you look closely you can see  the new growth that makes this plant semi-evergreen in my garden

Each fall when I see Cedar Glade St Johnswort's  brilliant color I wonder why more American gardeners haven't planted them.  They really are good looking four season native shrubs that give good return on your gardening dollar. 

Do your resident Bumblebees, Hoverflies and other pollen loving pollinators a favor and plant a native Hypericum instead of the invasive Euonymous alata/Burning Bush.


xxoogail



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone."