Hardiness zones
Sunset 2-20
USDA 5 - 11

Landscape Use: Hedge, foundation filler plantings, mesiscapes

Form & Character: Formal, mesic, great for that nostalgic garden effect.

Growth Habit: Evergreen woody perennial, upright to 8'. Easily maintained at 4-5' in height.

Foliage/Texture: Deep green oval shaped foliage, 1-3 inches long. Foliage serrate, younger stems green, prominent axillary vegetative buds; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Small axillary white flower in the spring, fruit inconspicuous

Seasonal Color: None

Temperature: Cold tolerant, foliage turns purple when temperatures fall below freezing for extended periods

Light: Partial shade, eastern and northern exposures are best, no western exposures or full sun

Soil: Intolerant of most highly alkaline soils in the Phoenix area where it will show foliar iron chlorosis. Treat long- term by applications of elemental sulfur and ammoniacal nitrogen fertilizer, otherwise in the short-term use a liquid concentrated chelated form of iron and zinc micronutrient fertilizer.

Watering: Regular

Pruning: Usually informally to formally hedged

Propagation: Softwood cutting

Disease and pests: Scale and thrips. Powdery mildew in the spring and early summer. Provide good air circulation.

Additional comments: In contemporary Phoenix landscape designs, Japanese euonymus is relegated to the most mesic and formal of landscape design themes. There are many named cultivars, some with dramatic variegated foliage. Here is a large specimen of the cultivar 'Microphyllus'. Here's a link to a cool nursery that grows some unusual Euonymus cultivars including 'Microphyllus Variegata'.

Check out this unusual Euonymus japonica stem fastigiation I stumbled upon at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in March 2006.