It comes in various cultivated varieties, including "Emerald Gaiety", silver Euonymus, which has brightly variegated green and silver foliage. The shrub is a low growing vine/ground cover which is very vigorous and tolerant of even dense shade. It turns slightly pink in winter.
Growth Habit and Layering
Euonymus fortunei is a dwarf, creeping, evergreen ground cover. In early spring and fall it can grow tremendously in a short period of time. It is not uncommon for it to send out tip growth 10-15" long. These long branches will cascade over the side of planters or even climb vertically on surfaces with support.
When lying horizontally on the ground, in early spring these branches often produce new shots at each leaf node along the stem. During the growing season, these new shots will grow across the ground and eventually produce more buds. This freely branching habit can produce a very dense shrub which can cover lots of ground if left undisturbed.
An easy way to propagate the shrub is simply to leave it unpruned for a few years and pin the long branches to the ground every 3-5" inches with soil or staples. Remove any leaves that are covered by soil or staples. In spring the plants will have rooted and can be severed by scissors, dug up, and transplanted. This technique is also called 'layering' and is a very simple technique when used with this shrub.
Propagation by Cutting
Cutting is a fast way to produce lots of shrubs. As the name suggests, a piece of the stem is cut with scissors and pushed into potting soil, outdoors or indoors. Euonymus fortunei is extremely easy to root. You can use any leaf node on the branch, at any time of the year. Before you proceed, you may want to take a look at Cutting and Pinching.
Start by cutting a few long branches off the shrub and bring them indoors. Chop the long branches into small sections about 3-4" in length, each with about 4 sets of leaves. Remove the bottom few sets of leaves so that one or two sets remain. The cutting needs a couple of leaves to survive. Before removing the bottom leaves, make sure you turn the cutting the "right side up." The leaf back is duller compared to the colorful variegated upper surface. Also, the leaves always point slightly upwards. After removing the leaves, you will notice that the cutting has some small swollen knobs where the leaves used to be. These knobs are leaf nodes, which can develop into leaves or branches.
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