Growing Euonymus alatus in container

SiliconChip

I was very taken by the brilliant colours of a Euonymus altus that I saw last October (see picture below), and having come across one while browsing in a garden centre today I made the snap decision to buy it. I could find a place to plant it in the garden but I'd quite like to be able to take it with me should I move house so I wondered if it would be feasible to plant it in a container. What do you think?

 

Dustyevsky

There's a variety that would fit in a large planter because it's a dwarf shrub rather than something that would grow into a tree. That's Euonymus alatus 'Compactus,' which is the one in your photo. It has an RHS Award of Garden Merit.

If your one isn't 'Compactus' it may not be happy long term in a planter, but you could try it as a sort of giant bonsai and restrict the roots/prune more. Don't forget all potted shrubs need feeding, and a change of some soil too, every few years

SiliconChip

It doesn't say Compactus on the label but the size information (height 80 cm, spread 100 cm) seems to align with the Compactus description given by the RHS rather than that for the larger version, so I'm hoping that's what it is (I should note that it was a little smaller than the other two plants at the garden centre, and was priced £3 less).

Thanks for your advice, I think I'll give it a go in a planter, and hopefully it won't need the be bonsaied to keep it to a reasonable size. Although given the 10-20 year predection to reach ultimate size it may still be growing when I get added to the soil myself

twopenny

When i knew I was going to move I put a load of essentials in pots including a lilac tree.
It's still surviving in a larger pot. I don't think I lost anything and that was a couple of years plus.

Dusty is very knowledgeable and for sure that's probably what you should do but gardening is an adventure and you don't know until you try 
I'd give it a go. You can always keep an eye for the ultimate stress on the plant and put it in soil later.
Buy another as a house warming present if you can't dig it out for the move.

SiliconChip

I've bought a nice planter for it (which actually cost over twice as much as the plant) so I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

Dustyevsky

twopenny said:

Dusty is very knowledgeable ....

Dusty is very tight and grew his Spindle trees from seed, 'borrowed' from somewhere or other. The resulting offspring aren't named varieties, but they fruit and colour-up OK. I notice they tend to have one good year followed by a resting year when they have fewer fruits.

GreenBucket24

SiliconChip said:

I've bought a nice planter for it (which actually cost over twice as much as the plant) so I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

@SiliconChip
Hopefully, you are enjoying watching the growth of your E. Alatus plant. 
Yes, this plant can be a great specimen in big pot, you just need to maintain and top-dress it annually. This is how it looks in a pot during different seasons ... as I planted one of this ... best to position in a sheltered and dappled light. It is sensitive to strong winds.

the transformation of its foliage colours during different seasons is fascinatingly beautiful...

During Summer, it bears tiny insignificant creamy flowers ...

After losing all its leaves in mid to late Autumn, beautiful small berries will appear.

Its Winter winged stems are equally interesting as a feature when it is dormant. 

 

ArbitraryRandom

And if you WANT to keep it in a pot long term - there's probably a limit to what you would call 'portable' when moving, but at least it's on sale  

https://www.suttonmanornursery.co.uk/garden-pots/the-mediterranean-pots/the-mediterranean-pot-173-colour-terracotta/

Farway

ArbitraryRandom said:

And if you WANT to keep it in a pot long term - there's probably a limit to what you would call 'portable' when moving, but at least it's on sale  

https://www.suttonmanornursery.co.uk/garden-pots/the-mediterranean-pots/the-mediterranean-pot-173-colour-terracotta/

Thankfully, it has free P & P . Do they do a saucer with it?

Paspatur

Shame, they don't deliver to my postcode

GreenBucket24

ArbitraryRandom said:

And if you WANT to keep it in a pot long term - there's probably a limit to what you would call 'portable' when moving, but at least it's on sale  

https://www.suttonmanornursery.co.uk/garden-pots/the-mediterranean-pots/the-mediterranean-pot-173-colour-terracotta/

@ArbitraryRandom
Quite hard finding these types and sizes of pots in our area. It took us 2 yrs finding the one we have in our backyard, because we like unique and elegant!

You are correct, moving them after a while will be very challenging! However, you can hire a lowry that can transport them as we did one time.