How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Wintercreeper

Are you looking for a vining plant type to provide vivid green foliage on your backyard pergola? It’s time to take a look at wintercreeper! This creeping, climbing vine can grow to create a living roof with ease. It’s also perfect for green fencing. And it’s great for ground cover too!

However, it’s an invasive species in most of the eastern part of the United States. In those areas, it’s better to grow your wintercreeper in containers so it doesn’t escape and cause ecological damage.

Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) comes in many colorations. Pure green, a mix of light and dark combined, creamy white, and even purple aren’t uncommon shades. Heavily cultivated, there is a variety that will suit nearly any location.

Today, we’ll tackle this striking vine. Let’s talk wintercreeper!

What is Wintercreeper?

Wintercreeper is a versatile, fast-growing evergreen vine prized for its adaptability and attractive foliage. It is often used as ground cover, a climbing vine, or even a shrub in landscaping due to its ability to thrive in various conditions, including full sun, partial shade, and poor soils.

Native Area

The winter creeper has an extensive native range. It can be found throughout most countries in east Asia. China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India are just a smattering. It prefers temperate climates where the vine can grow to its true potential.

This adaptability has made the wintercreeper vine an invasive species in the eastern half of the US, where it tends to spread and take over relatively undisturbed forests and forest openings. If you know this vigorous vining plant is an invasive plant in your region, grow it in containers with a trellis attached. It’s just as lovely there, and it won’t cause problems due to escape.

Characteristics

Pairs and triads of leaves are positioned opposite one another on this vine. Small rootlets, or aerial roots also emerge from the vine to grasp onto supports. This enables the plant to grow upright.

With support, whether it be a trellis or a tree, it can easily reach extreme heights. Fifty feet tall is not uncommon for wintercreeper! It can also be grown as a low ground cover. A short trellis can be used to encourage a shrub-like mounding habit.

Once it’s established and has plenty of light, the vine will start its flowering phase in early spring. These flowers aren’t showy. They’re easy to miss, as they’re only about a quarter of an inch in size. The petals are yellowish-green in color and blend into the foliage.

As flowering subsides in early summer, the plant begins to fruit. These fruits are inedible pale green berries, each one containing an orange seed. Once the berries dry and split open in early fall, the seed escapes to potentially start a new plant.

Varieties

There are many cultivars of Euonymus. While we can’t cover all similar species due to their diversity, I’ll showcase a few here. Don’t hesitate to look for other varieties!

Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald ’n Gold’

The variety ‘Emerald ’n Gold’ (or ‘Emerald Gaiety’) can reach four to five feet in width and can mound to a height of nearly four feet. The leaves are a vivid, brilliant green color to dark green with wide golden margins. Full sun is best for developing bright coloration. As the seasons change, so does the foliage color… by winter, it has a reddish tint to the leaves.

Euonymus fortunei ‘Canadale Gold’

Glossy dark green leaves with golden margin streaks are a sign of ‘Canadale Gold’. ‘ This variety also tends to mound, but it’s an irregular, uneven mound. Its stems will spread to fill the surrounding space, making it a good candidate for vine training.

Euonymus fortunei ‘Minimus’

Referred to as baby wintercreeper, this cultivar tends to be one to one and a half feet tall in its mounded form and up to six feet wide. The “baby” reference comes from the light to dark green leaves, which tend to be smaller than the rest of the species.

Euonymus fortunei ‘Coloratus’

It is commonly called the purple-leaved wintercreeper. This cultivar tends to have a mounding habit similar to that of a baby wintercreeper. Its spread as an ornamental groundcover is similar too. Where it diversifies is in its leaf color. The upper portion is glossy green, and it’s purplish in color beneath the leaves. In the late fall, the leaves shift to pure purple and last that way into the winter.

Euonymus fortunei ‘Vegetus’

When mounded, the big-leaved wintercreeper reaches two to four feet. It’s best used as a creeping form with brilliant green leaves. This cultivar is extremely cold-hardy, making it perfect for cooler climates. Unfortunately, it’s also quite susceptible to scale insects.

Planting

To plant wintercreeper choose a location with well-draining soil and partial to full sunlight, depending on the variety. Begin by digging a hole twice as wide and as deep as the root ball. Loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole to encourage root growth. Remove the vine from its container, gently tease apart the roots, and place it in the hole so that the top of the root ball is level with the soil surface.

Backfill pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets. Water thoroughly after planting to settle the soil and ensure good contact with the roots. Mulch around the base to retain moisture and suppress weeds, keeping the mulch a few inches away from the stem to prevent rot.

How to Grow

Fast-growing, this garden vine isn’t super-picky, but it can get quite out of hand. Yes, it has some preferences, but those are easy to meet. So let’s discuss what it would love most for its perfect conditions.

Light

Wintercreeper tends to be hardy from zones 4-8, with some cultivars tolerating zone 9 as well. Its light requirements are just as variable. While it’s tolerant of all light conditions, it grows best in full to partial sunlight. This doesn’t mean it can’t take heavy shade, but it may try to climb to reach more light.

Depending on the amount of light it gets, the foliage itself will vary in coloration. Bicolored varieties will get more distinctive markings in full sun. Pure green varieties will either become darker or lighter green, depending on cultivar.

In extremely hot regions like the boundary edges between zones 9 and 10, pick shadier spots. Partial to complete shade reduces the direct sun heat on the foliage.

Water

When in juvenile form, you should water your creeper a bit more frequently than when it’s established. It can be moderately drought-tolerant as an older plant.

Still, it prefers consistent and regular moisture in its soil. A weekly watering is good in cooler weather. In hot weather, increase the frequency of watering to prevent wilt. Humidity is no problem at all for wintercreeper. Both low and high percentages are tolerated as long as there is adequate moisture.

Soil

Moist, well-draining soil is ideal for your vine. It is tolerant of most soils, provided that drainage is good. Avoid heavy, wet soils, as this can promote root rot conditions. Moist soil is needed for good growth, but extremely wet soil is not good.

Soil acidity is unimportant, but it tends to be a bit less tolerant of high alkalinity. Most lightly-acidic through lightly-alkaline soil pH is fine.

Temperature

Ideal temperatures for wintercreeper are 55 to 68°F (13-20°C) during the day and 40 to 55°F (4-13°C) at night. As mentioned, the plant is not as tolerant of heat as it is of freezing temperatures or general winter temperatures – which tend to be no problem at all.

Fertilizing

In general, this vine won’t require fertilizing. It is tolerant of poor soil nutrients. In fact, over-fertilization will cause it to explode into rapid growth. Skip the fertilizer for this one; it just doesn’t need it.

Avoid fertilizing, especially because these are invasive plants. You don’t want them taking over your garden and other plants, cracking a container, or escaping into surrounding natural areas. If planted nearby, they can also damage other structures.

Maintenance

Pruning your winter creeper should be done for one of two reasons. You can prune to avoid invasive spread, or prune for cosmetic appearance. Remove the flowers on the plant before they fruit and develop seed. This will prevent it from spreading and killing native plants.

Clean pruning shears are necessary to prevent disease transmission from vine to vine. Sterilize your shears between cuts whenever possible. Because the vine is so vigorous, don’t prune in winter; instead, prune when growth is active. This helps contain it.

Another important way to control the spread of wintercreeper, is to pull any that grow from seeds you missed in the pruning process. You don’t want a wintercreeper infestation in your garden or the surrounding ecosystem. Prune during the growing season for best results.

Propagation

Cuttings or seeds are the easiest methods of propagation for wintercreepers.

For a cutting, select healthy, new growth. Using sterile shears, remove a four to six inch length that has at least four pairs of leaves. Make the cut just below the lowest set of leaves. Strip off that bottom set of leaves and place it into moist potting soil. Care for your plant cutting as you would any other type.

Roots will develop from the wounds left from stripping off the lower leaves. When these roots are at least an inch long, you can transplant into a larger pot. Harden the plant off to outdoor conditions before transplanting in the ground.

From seed, plant your seeds at least a quarter of an inch deep. Keep the soil consistently moist until the seeds germinate. Keep them indoors until you have at least three to four inches of growth, then harden them off.

While propagation will be easy in the eastern United States, you probably won’t have to as these are invasive plants. In fact, it may be best just to stick with one plant and avoid spreading it into sensitive ecosystems.

Common Problems

Nothing is truly problem-free. Let’s go over what difficulties you might be facing!

Growing Problems

Poorly drained soil is a liability. Standing water or overly wet soil creates conditions that allow fungi to develop. These fungi may attack the roots.

Overwatering causes many of the same problems as poor drainage. Go for consistent moisture, but don’t water in excess.

Pests

Euonymus scale is a major risk for your wintercreeper. This armored-scale insect can cause complete defoliation and may even kill it. This scale can also attack others and similar species, including English ivy, pachysandra, holly, and more.

Horticultural oil sprays are effective at smothering young scale insects. You can remove small infestations by hand, as well. Ladybugs and parasitic wasps can be used as beneficial pest elimination options. You can plant to attract these to your garden.

The dreaded aphid is also a potential issue. These irritating little pests will feed on anything with plant juices. Spray the plant with a blast of water from a hose to knock them off. I like to use neem oil sprays, but insecticidal soaps can also be effective. And of course, those ladybugs I mentioned above love to eat aphids!

Diseases

Bacterial crown gall is a potential risk for your creepers. This creates wart-like, round growths at the soil line. Galls can reach sizes of two or more inches in diameter. Over time, the galls can cause weakened, stunted growth. Young vines can be killed off entirely.

This soil-borne bacteria is hard to eliminate, so prevention is the best protection. It enters the plant through wounds at the base. Avoid damage from string trimmers to the base. If pruned areas are near the soil, use a pruning sealer to prevent infection.

Anthracnose and other leaf spots may occur. Thankfully, these are much easier to treat than the crown gall! Neem oil can also be used to prevent its reappearance.

Powdery mildew may occur in humid locations. Ensure you have plenty of airflow around them. Spray neem oil on all leaf surfaces to prevent it from developing or to treat existing light patches.

Frequently Asked Questions