Euonymus fortunei ‘Wolong Ghost’ (Silver-veined Wintercreeper)

How is Euonymus like a panda? Well…not really like one. But if you’ll never visit the bears in China, then at least we can enjoy this lovely little plant from near the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan province. The leaves are evergreen and dark, slender and with a prominent white veining that is striking but delicate and best described as ‘lacy’ in overall texture. Normally it will form a dense ground-hugging rug of filigree up to around 1.5m in spread.

It does climb but does so a little clumsily, and could do with support and encouragement to do it properly. In this regard, it is perhaps rather panda-like. We’ve seen it swooshing up against a weathered brick wall where it then managed to find enough crevices and handholds to haul itself upward but this was more an example of momentum than skill. Scramble and drape, that’s the strategy.

Perfect for patches of groundcover obviously, where it will excel at carpeting banks and slopes. It’ll engulf any old tree stumps and what have you, and plummet pleasingly over walls and the sides of containers too. Unlike pandas it seems fine reproducing all over the place, and anywhere the stems hit the floor it will make roots.

Give it good drainage and it will grow happily in full sun or in partial shade, in any aspect, in both exposed and sheltered positions.

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