Thank You for the immediate response!

I had a Burning Bush and rarely pruned it so it did set fruit every year. Many fruit that dropped beneath it germinated. I was always pulling seedlings out in close proximity to it. A shrub like this can be problematic and you might not be aware of it, because it's surrounded by grass which you mow all the time, or you prune it every year or two and it doesn't set fruit or you mulch heavily. But if your Burning Bush does set fruit, birds eat the fruit, and they can fly quite a distance away, they gravitate toward woods and wood edges, they drop the seed wherever they go and easy to see how a whole colony of Burning Bush can spring up somewhere away from your property and you wouldn't know it. The problem is it can grow so vigorously that it will out grow everything else in certain areas. The problem with this is it destroys biodiversity. That is the bottom line. Biodiversity is very important, so if you want to understand the full impact of any plant that becomes invasive, read up on Biodiversity and why it is important. Here is a link that might be useful: Why Is Biodiversity Important? Who Cares?

I find it invasive. There was a ton of burning bush coming up in a local natural area I was cleaning to be wildlife habitat. It was everywhere. The nearest bush I know of is 1/2 mile away - it's not all over man's yard who has it...but the birds roost in the natural area so therefore poop seeds all night. They don't roost near the Mother shrub. Killing burning bush was a new one on me this year. Also found a lot of Mahonia bealei and liriope coming up. Uggh. Please consider an alternative - red twig dogwood (artic fire - LOUD in winter), ariona (autumn magic is lovely), even the ninebarks. All the color choice (diablo, summer wine, copertina, darts gold) have the same basic shape and beautiful color, winter interest. Moonshine Designs Nursery carries all of these. The ninebark is grown by Monrovia I think so may be easy to find. Tea viburnum (Viburnum setigerum) is a non-native which is not invasive that I know of, vase shape stunning plant and wildlife, woodland friendly. Fairweather Gardens and Lazy S'S Farm Nursery carry this. Check Fairweather Gardens for the Prince William Serviceberry, too, that's a great shrub. Color, berries, good shape, attractive foliage...and coralberry (Symphoricarpos x doorenbosii Amethyst), and snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus), planted together those two are outstanding. And unique. Don't forget unique! This is just one opinion after seeing it carpeting the woods...and rain would be great right about now!! Why copy your neighbor?? Be different! :)

I have a similar problem. The bottom half of the bush is dark red, the top half is green. 2 winters ago rabbits chewed off most of it so I pruned it back to shape in the spring. It was smaller last year but it turned red. Last winter was very mild and a few branches dried out. This spring I cut the dead branches off. The bush pretty much exploded and had a great growth this year, it's about 6 feet tall. It's not looking very nice but I wanted to leave it to grow for now. The bottom 1.5 foot is dark red, the 2 branches that were chewed off and didn't really have a great growth, and the top part does not look like it is going to change color, which is where all the new hight happened this year. Not sure what to do with it. I was thinking that it is a hybrid and some branches reverted back to the original colorless state? If that's the case I would have to cut all of the green off, but I don't know if burning bushes are actually made hybrid. I will wait confirmation on that before I get to it with the branch cutter again. I will attach the picture I just took. The red leaves are falling off now too. We had the first frost a few weeks ago.