'Moonshine' Euonymus |
Consider this blog entry a plea to resurrect its rightful place in the border, an entreaty to envision and enact a euonymus Eden, if you will. I'm aware that it is contemptible in its commonality, boring in its banality, but it is hardy and hale and handsome in most sites. The biggest and really the only failing of euonymus is actually the gardener's lack of imagination and foresight in cultivar selection and placement.
ProfessorRoush is not fond of coniferous evergreens, and may therefore subsequently be more open to experimentation with broad-leaf evergreens than perhaps your average mediocre dirt-digger, so I've grown several euonymus over time. And while Euonymus kiautschovicus 'Manhattan' is the most common euonymus grown here in Manhattan, Kansas (the "Little Apple", as opposed to Manhattan, New York, the "Big Apple"), I've managed to avoid it like it was poisonous. Hard to believe, but it simply is too bland, and grows too big, even for me.
'Emerald Gaiety' Euonymus |
Right now they are quiet, mere notes in the landscape, their unobtrusive presence noted in the photo here by the white arrows in my front border. They are obedient and calm, providing light contrast and balance to the bountiful flowering perennials among them. In winter, however, THEY are the color, resistant green and white or green and yellow splotches to remind me that life remains in the garden despite the frigid temperature and frozen gales. I depend on them, and ignore them, their devoted and yet fickle gardener, taking full advantage of their easy-going nature and their pest-free presence.
And "euonymus" is pronounced, for those who-wanna-know, if-you-must-know, "yoo-on-uh--muh-s". So there.
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