Euonymus scale, Unaspis euonym, is pretty much restricted to euonymus (as the species name would indicate). It can also infest pachysandra and bittersweet (Celastrus) but that is really about it. If you have those in your garden, I'd be mildly concerned but no worries about other plants.

WHEW!!

Thanks gardengal : )

Not particularly attached to the shrub so I'm thinking I would rather
pull it out then bother with a bunch of harsh chemical treatment.

==>>> thats why i just got rid of all mine ... just not worth it ..

its rare that plant specific problems.. will spread across species ... its possible.. but not probable .. most the time ..

there are many types of scale .. but yours is specific/endemic to E ... so i would not worry about it crossing family lines and harming other things ...

ken

Thanks Ken! Always appreciate your input, and it's nice to see your name pop up : )

We are removing the shrub this weekend. The other concern that popped into my head last night though was, what conditions are present in that spot that made my shrub so susceptible to the scale? It is very shady there, and possibly stays a little damp much of the time so I wonder what I should put there in its place. Ken I've taken some of your suggestions before and been quite happy so if you have any now that you'd like to offer, I'm all ears. I'm not a big fan of flowers, and would be happy someday if my entire landscape were just various JMs and different conifers, but I'm not sure that any of those will be good in a shady spot that might even stay damp? Just a thought…

I'm sure that ken will respond, but I'll just comment very simply: euonymus is genetically predisposed to its unique species of scale; these shrubs are likely to become infested no matter what the conditions may be.

You may not know this, but one of the more important rules of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is to avoid susceptible plants in the first place. That means doing some research before bringing new plants into the landscape.

I cannot use or be around systemic or contact chemical pesticides or their fumes. So avoiding pest susceptible plants is pretty important to me!

Thanks rhizo! Good point. I'll do some googling on prospective plants before actually putting them in the ground. This one was here when we bought the house and I never would've picked it so it may turn out to be a happy fail. We only kept it because it filled a space and money could be spent elsewhere. But this scale sounds like a perfectly good reason to chuck it now!

That would be my choice, too. ;-)