# 2 is burning bush-euonymus alatus

All badly pruned! The bottom should be slightly larger than the top to allow sunlight to the bottom leaves, not like a vase.

The last one is a yew and the first almost looks like a crepe myrtle (is that flowers on the tips?)

The first one does look like a Japanese Maple to me, although I wouldn't guess at the cultivar. There are about a million of them.

WW

Thanks for the replies everyone!

>>the first almost looks like a crepe myrtle (is that flowers on the tips?)
>>The first one does look like a Japanese Maple to me, although I wouldn't guess at the cultivar.

Nope, no flowers. Here's a closeup of the leaves of the tree (best I can do at 11pm). I'm pretty confident it's a japanese maple, just not too sure on the exact variant. Five tipped, full green leaf, red seeds & brownish green branches. Leaves turn a crimson during Fall.

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>># 2 is burning bush-euonymus alatus
>>All badly pruned! The bottom should be slightly larger than the top to allow sunlight to the bottom leaves, not like a vase.

Wow. I just googled that name and was very surprised how red some of these get. Mine might change color in the fall, but not to that level of redness (I wish!). Good to know though. Is this what proper pruning looks like for these? More globe-ish?

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Thanks again. I'm just about to begin a re-do of the landscaping. Just purchased a nice Canadian Hemlock to anchor the far left side and Jean's Dilly Albert Spruce for the far right side by the front door step. Trying to decide if I should try pruning the overgrown yews back or replace... and whether to keep the #2 (burning bush-euonymus alatus). Problem is if I keep them, I need another to balance the area and I'm sure I'll never be able to buy that matches the existing two.

I would get rid of the euonymous based on the fact that they are environmentally invasive, but, of course, that is your decision to make. Aesthetically, there are several ways to choose from to prune both your eonymous and the yews. What you don't want, and what has been done with yours, is a base that is narrower than the top. Now, the top will shade out the bottom and eventually, you'll have no foliage on the bottom since it gets no light.

The Japanese maple may be your basic acer palmatum.

As for replacing your yews, yews tend to respond well to "rejuvination pruning". Meaning, you can cut them pretty far back and they will come back. So, if you like yews where you have them, you probably don't need to remove and replace.

Burning Bush colors better in sun than in shade, that could be your problem. Look for the website for Plant Amnesty for some good pruning techniques.

Truthfully, I wouldn't absolutely put money on that second one being Euonymus alatus. Maybe it's just the angle the picture is at, but it doesn't look quite right to me. Take a look at the twigs and see if any of them have thin corky 'wings' - alatus means 'winged'. Or could we get another picture that's just a flat shot of a twig with a couple sets of leaves? Has it ever had flowers or berries that you've seen?

WW

>>Has it ever had flowers or berries that you've seen?
No, I don't ever recall this shrub ever having either. It seems to be green during the spring/summer, slight change in fall, looses leave for the winter.

>>Or could we get another picture that's just a flat shot of a twig with a couple sets of leaves?

Sure. Will these do? The branches seem to be almost square-like.... the center is a normal round green branch/twig with 4 brownish "corners" making it squarish.

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That's a quarter in the picture to help gauge size.

I thought maybe forsythia, especially with square-ish twigs, but the flowers in spring would have been unmistakeable.

Yes, those pictures are much better, thank you. And everybody was right the first time, it is Burning Bush, Euonymus alatus. I guess I'm just not used to seeing it pruned like that. Those brownish 'corners' are the wings - on some plants they're much larger than that. They're very common plants, in fact around here they're becoming invasive in the woods, so you shouldn't have a problem if you want to buy a couple more. They'd look nicer if they weren't pruned so hard, as everyone say. They do have flowers, but they're green and not very noticeable, and there probably weren't that many because the tips of the branches got pruned off. Same with fruit - interesting but small. There are pictures of both in the link.

WW

Here is a link that might be useful: Euonymus alatus, Burning Bush or Winged Euonymus

Thanks everyone. Mystery solved, case closed.