by James Alexander-Sinclair
The leaves are 70 shades of scarlet, and they contrast with the extraordinary orange seeds and pink seed-pods. The whole plant makes an eyeball-searing spectacle - almost hallucinogenic.
Until I became interested in gardening - embarrassingly, half a lifetime ago - I thought a spindle was just a mechanical thing. It made me think of Sleeping Beauty, who, under the curse of a wicked fairy, pricked her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fell asleep for 100 years.
But I learned about a different type of spindle on a field trip to Kew Gardens, in the autumn of 1984. I remember the moment of revelation very well. At the time I was enrolled on a 10-week gardening course (my only formal training - and I'm ashamed to admit that my attendance record was so poor it would have attracted the scrutiny of social services in other circumstances.)
I recall that I was late to join my fellow budding gardeners on the trip. The weather was cold but Kew was looking beautifully autumnal. We were wandering along trying to identify trees and shrubs, when I was stopped dead in my tracks by one particular plant: Euonymus alatus, the winged spindle or burning bush.
I have fallen in love with many plants, but Euonymus alatus was probably the first. Hailing from China and Japan, it is slow-growing, and deciduous. The greenish-white flowers appear in spring and, for much of the year, it is a green, innocuous-looking shrub.
However, in autumn, it boasts the most spectacular colour. The leaves are 70 shades of scarlet, and they contrast with the extraordinary orange seeds and pink seed-pods. The whole plant makes an eyeball-searing spectacle - almost hallucinogenic.
In parts of the USA, Euonymus alatus is classified as invasive. In fact, in Massachusetts and New Hampshire it is illegal to sell the species. Fortunately, it is not outlawed here.
I have planted Euonymus alatus and other Euonymus species many times. I also love Euonymus europaeus, which makes a fabulous addition to a native hedge, adding ‘oomph’ to the hawthorns and dogwoods. Spindles for spinning wool were made from its extremely hard wood - bringing us neatly back to Sleeping Beauty.
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