Euonymus fortunei ‘Kewensis’

Why is this wonderful thing so little known? Hardy, reliable and slightly odd. If you wanted some ground cover that resembled a good chop in the Solent, this is your man. Each individual plant piles itself up on itself forming a kind of wave, a peak, a pyramid. Is there any other plant that performs this trick? Definitely not. It can be clipped but once clipped, it never seems to regain its former peaks and waves. What a quandary. It will also makes its own living wall – clambering up and over almost anything. At the old nursery at Horsham we have a grove of Trachycarpus palm trees and all of the trunks are completely covered in this stuff. It doesn’t grow slow and it doesn’t grow fast – just nice and steady. If it flowers, no one’s ever noticed them. We propagate these from cuttings but we can’t remember where the original plant was – probably Leonardslee Garden in West Sussex.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.

As with all woody plants, plant high, exposing as much of the taper at the base of the trunk as possible. Allowing soil to accumulate round the base of a tree can be fatal. Keep very well watered when first planted.

Hardiness level Green

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IF IT HAS A GREEN TRAFFIC LIGHT

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Hardy anywhere in Britain below approximately 1000ft (300m)

This is only meant as a guide. Please remember we're always on hand to give advice about plants and their frost hardiness.

Please remember that these coloured labels are only a rough guide.

General Point about Plant Hardiness: The commonly held belief that it's better to 'plant small' is perfectly true with herbaceous plants, but not necessarily true with woody plants. They need some 'wood' on them to survive severe cold - so plants of marginal hardiness in very cold areas should really be planted LARGER, rather than smaller, wherever possible.