Euonymus Wintercreeper: Growing and Controlling It

Updated September 2026 · Garden Advice Guide

Euonymus wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) is an evergreen vine sold as a groundcover for zones 4 through 9, and it's one of the toughest plants you can buy: it takes full sun or deep shade, dry soil or clay, and winter lows near -30°F. That same toughness is why it's a listed invasive plant in North Carolina and other states across the Southeast and Northeast, and why Indiana bans its sale outright. If it's not listed where you live and you want it, grow it inside a hard edge, away from anything it can climb. If it has already escaped into your trees or the woods behind your fence, the removal steps further down work.

Both halves of that answer matter, so this page covers growing it responsibly and getting rid of it, and it's honest about which situation you're in.

Planting a contained bed of it? Use our free plant spacing calculator to turn your bed dimensions into a plant count before you buy a single flat.

Updated September 2026

What Wintercreeper Actually Is (Two Plants in One)

Wintercreeper has a trick that explains both its popularity and its bad reputation. It has two growth forms, and it switches between them.

The juvenile form is what you buy. Stems creep along the ground, rooting wherever a node touches soil, with small leathery leaves that stay green through winter and often blush purple or bronze in the cold. It never flowers in this form. As a groundcover it makes a dense mat 6 to 12 inches deep that smothers weeds and holds a slope.

The adult form appears when a stem finds something vertical: a tree trunk, a fence, a brick wall, a downspout. The stem climbs with aerial rootlets, the leaves get bigger, and within a few years the plant flowers and sets small orange-red fruit inside pink capsules. Birds eat the fruit and drop the seed in the nearest woodland, where the seedlings start the cycle over.

So a well-behaved mat in a suburban bed becomes an invasive problem the moment it reaches the maple at the corner. That single fact drives every containment rule on this page.

The cultivars you'll find at a nursery, from most vigorous to least:

• 'Coloratus' (purple leaf wintercreeper): plain green leaves that turn deep purple in winter. The most aggressive by a wide margin and the one responsible for most of the escapes. It's also the cheapest, sold by the flat for slopes.
• 'Emerald Gaiety': green leaves edged in white, pink-tinged in winter. Shrubby, 2 to 3 feet tall, spreads more slowly.
• 'Emerald 'n' Gold': green with a gold margin. Similar habit to 'Emerald Gaiety'.
• 'Moonshadow' and 'Blondy': gold centers with green edges, compact, the least vigorous of the group.
• 'Harlequin': heavily white-speckled, small, slow.

Variegated cultivars are less vigorous because the pale leaf tissue makes less energy, but they aren't safe. Every one of them throws green reverted shoots now and then, and a reverted shoot has all the vigor of 'Coloratus'. Cut reversions out at the base the moment you see them.

Is Euonymus Wintercreeper Invasive Where You Live?

The honest answer is that it depends on your state, and the lists change. So rather than give you a list that's wrong by next year, here's how to check, with two verified extension sources showing how much the answer varies.

NC State Extension's Plant Toolbox states plainly that it's listed as invasive in North Carolina and in other states of the Southeast and Northeast, and describes a woody vine that can reach over 60 feet up a tree. Illinois Extension, by contrast, notes that wintercreeper is not on the official Illinois invasive species list, but still describes it outcompeting native vegetation and forming dense monocultures, and still publishes control recommendations for it.

That's the pattern across the country. Formal regulation is patchy, but the ecological verdict is nearly unanimous where the plant escapes. Indiana went furthest and put Euonymus fortunei on its Terrestrial Plant Rule, which makes it illegal to sell, trade, or transport in the state. Invasive plant councils in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Georgia rate it as a severe threat. In the Mid-Atlantic it's a well-known problem in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania woodlands.

To check your own state:

1. Search "[your state] extension wintercreeper" or "[your state] invasive plant list Euonymus fortunei."
2. Look for two different things: whether it's regulated (banned from sale) and whether it's listed as invasive by the state's invasive plant council. A plant can be listed but still legal to sell, which is the situation in most states.
3. If your state lists it, don't plant it, even in a container bed. If your state doesn't list it but you're within a few hundred yards of woodland, treat it as if it were.

Where it's a poor fit even if legal: any property backing onto a park, a creek, or woods, and any bed with a tree in or beside it. Where it's a defensible choice: a fully paved-in bed, a parking strip between sidewalk and curb, or a slope bounded by concrete on all sides, in a state that doesn't list it, with a commitment to shear it twice a year.

Growing It Where It's Appropriate: Site, Spacing, and Containment

If you've checked your state and you've got a hard-edged site, here's how to plant it so it stays a groundcover and never becomes the adult form.

Site. Wintercreeper genuinely does not care. Full sun to full shade, though variegated types color best in part sun. Any soil that isn't waterlogged. It's one of the few groundcovers that fills in under a Norway maple or a spruce where nothing else will, which is exactly why people plant it.

Spacing. For a groundcover mat:

A worked example. Say the bed is a parking strip 4 feet wide and 30 feet long, so 120 square feet. At 18 inch spacing, each plant covers 1.5 by 1.5 feet, which is 2.25 square feet, so 120 divided by 2.25 is about 53 plants. At 24 inch spacing for 'Coloratus', each plant covers 4 square feet and you need 30. At 12 inches for a slow cultivar, one per square foot, 120 plants. The plant spacing calculator does the same division for any bed size and shows you row and square-foot layouts side by side.

Planting. Plant in spring or early fall so roots establish before stress. Set plants at the depth they grew in the pot, water them in, and mulch 2 inches between plants for the first season to hold weeds off until the mat closes. After that, the plant is its own mulch.

Containment rules, in order of importance:

1. A physical edge it can't cross. Concrete, a sidewalk, or metal or plastic edging sunk at least 4 to 6 inches deep and standing an inch proud of the soil. Stems that reach a hard edge stop. Stems that reach lawn root into the lawn and keep going.
2. Nothing vertical within reach. No trees in the bed, no fence at the back of it, no wall, no downspout. A trunk 5 feet from the bed edge will be climbed within three years. If there's a tree, this isn't the plant.
3. Shear twice a year. Once in late spring after the flush and once in late summer. Shearing keeps the mat at 6 to 8 inches and, more importantly, removes any stem that's started to climb or to develop adult leaves.
4. Walk the edges every spring. Pull any rooted runner that's crossed the line, and cut out green reversions on variegated types.
5. Never let it flower. If you ever see flowers or the orange fruit, a stem has gone adult. Find it and cut it to the ground.

Watering and feeding. Water the first summer like any new planting, about an inch a week if rain doesn't supply it. After the first year it needs nothing, and you should give it nothing, since fertilizer only makes containment harder.

Pests. The one that matters is euonymus scale. You'll see it as tiny white flecks (the males) and dark brown oyster-shell bumps (the females) crusting the stems and leaf undersides, with yellowing leaves and dieback in bad cases. Prune out heavily infested stems, and spray horticultural oil in late spring when the crawlers hatch, which is roughly when the lilacs finish blooming in most of the country, with a second application two weeks later. A dormant oil spray in late winter helps too. Crown gall and anthracnose show up occasionally; both are reasons to remove the affected plants rather than treat.

Deer. Wintercreeper is browsed, especially in winter when it's one of the few green things in the yard, so don't count it as deer-proof. Our deer resistant ground cover page has better choices if deer pressure is why you wanted evergreen coverage.

How to Get Rid of Wintercreeper Once It's Escaped

Removing wintercreeper is a two- to three-year project, not a weekend. The plant roots at every node, resprouts from any fragment, and holds its leaves all winter, so half measures just prune it. Here's what works, in order of how much of it you've got.

Small patches: dig and pull, thoroughly.

1. Wait for a day or two after rain, when the soil is soft.
2. Starting at the outside edge, lift each stem and follow it back, pulling up every rooted node. A hand fork helps lever the roots out.
3. Bag everything. Don't compost it. Stems root from the pile.
4. Come back every few weeks through the season and pull the resprouts. By the second season they're sparse. By the third, you're checking rather than pulling.

Large mats: cut, then treat the regrowth.

Mowing or string-trimming a mat only suppresses it, as Illinois Extension notes, but it's a useful first step because it exposes the regrowth for treatment.

1. Cut or mow the mat as low as you can in late summer.
2. When regrowth reaches 4 to 6 inches, spray the new foliage with a systemic herbicide labeled for woody vines, either glyphosate or triclopyr, at the label rate for foliar use.
3. Because wintercreeper is evergreen, the best window for a foliar spray is late fall after the first frost, when native plants have gone dormant and won't be hit by drift. Illinois Extension recommends exactly this timing for glyphosate.
4. Repeat on any regrowth the following spring. Expect two or three rounds.

If you'd rather not spray, the alternative is smothering: cardboard overlapped with no gaps, weighted with 6 inches of wood chips, left in place for a full year. It works, but any stem that finds the edge keeps growing, so it's best on a mat bounded by pavement.

Vines in trees: cut and paint, never pull.

1. With loppers or a pruning saw, cut every vine climbing the trunk at ankle height and again at chest height, and remove the section between the two cuts. The upper vine dies in place and falls away over a year or two.
2. Within a few minutes of cutting, paint the fresh stump of each vine still attached to the ground with concentrated glyphosate or triclopyr, following the cut-stump directions on the label. Illinois Extension specifies doing this within 10 minutes, before the cut seals.
3. Don't pull the vines off the trunk. The aerial rootlets are embedded in the bark, and stripping them tears bark with them.
4. Treat the ground mat around the base of the tree using one of the methods above, or it re-climbs.

Disposal. Bag stems and fruiting material for the trash. Roots and stems can go in a pile only if they're dried out completely on pavement first. Fruit should never go anywhere birds can reach.

Monitoring. Walk the site each spring and fall for three years. Seed in the soil from any fruiting vine can germinate for a couple of years, and a single missed node becomes a new mat.

For the general approach to persistent perennial weeds, including the cardboard-and-mulch method, see how to get rid of weeds. And if the removal is part of a bigger reset, our fall garden cleanup page covers sequencing it with everything else.

What to Plant Instead

Once the wintercreeper is out, or if you've decided not to plant it, these give you the same evergreen or dense-mat effect without the escape risk. All are native to parts of the eastern US, and none climb.

For the shrub-sized 'Emerald Gaiety' look, native alternatives include inkberry holly (Ilex glabra) and, where you want winter color instead of evergreen leaves, winterberry, which drops its leaves but carries red fruit that birds spread nowhere harmful.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is wintercreeper invasive?

In much of the eastern US, yes. It's formally listed as invasive in North Carolina and other southeastern and northeastern states, banned from sale in Indiana, and rated a severe threat by invasive plant councils in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. Some states, including Illinois, don't list it officially but still recommend controlling it. Check your own state extension's list before planting.

How far apart do you plant wintercreeper as a ground cover?

12 to 24 inches, depending on cultivar. 'Coloratus' fills a 24 inch gap in two seasons. 'Emerald Gaiety' and 'Emerald 'n' Gold' are usually set 18 inches apart. Slow variegated types like 'Moonshadow' go at 12 to 15 inches. Divide your bed's square footage by the square footage per plant to get the count.

Does wintercreeper climb trees, and does that hurt them?

Yes. Any stem that reaches a trunk climbs it, and a mature vine can cover a tree to 60 feet. It doesn't strangle the tree, but it shades out the lower canopy, adds weight that brings limbs down in ice storms, and once climbing it flowers and fruits, which is how it spreads to new sites. Cut climbing vines at the base and paint the stumps.

What is the fastest way to kill wintercreeper?

Cut or mow it low, let it regrow to 4 to 6 inches, then spray the new leaves with glyphosate or triclopyr at the label rate. Late fall after frost is the best time because the wintercreeper is still green while natives are dormant. Expect two or three rounds over a couple of years. Hand pulling works on small patches if you get every rooted node.

Is euonymus wintercreeper poisonous?

It's low in toxicity. NC State lists it with low-severity poison characteristics, noting large quantities of any part of the plant could cause stomach upset and other symptoms, but with no recorded poisonings for the species. Keep pets from grazing on it and don't let children eat the orange fruit, but it's not in the dangerous category.

Why does my variegated wintercreeper have plain green shoots?

That's reversion. Variegated cultivars are mutations of a green plant, and every so often a shoot reverts to the original all-green form. Green shoots have more chlorophyll, grow faster, and will take over the plant if you leave them. Cut each one out at its base as soon as you see it.

Will wintercreeper grow in full shade?

Yes, better than almost any other evergreen groundcover, which is why it ends up under maples and spruces. Variegated types lose some of their color in deep shade but keep growing. Be aware that shade is also where it's most likely to reach a tree trunk, so full-shade beds need the strictest containment.