In PA and they are not invasive here. At least none of the ones I have.

I had them in my yard when I bought the place, I think they seeded from there to the edge of the woods in back of my backyard. I don't think anyone planted them there. I removed my bushes but still pull up seeds that come up in my back yard. i find them to be prolific self-seeders in my south of Boston yard.

Euonymus alatus is extremely invasive here in the Hudson Valley/Catskills. I planted one at the edge of my woods and years later they are now all along the woodland stream downhill from my house. I realized just how many there were one autumn when I took a walk and the whole area was lit up red!

I haven't seen any collateral damage from them though. Stream still runs. I weedwhack all the seedlings around the original bush (more like a small tree, unpruned). It's lovely.

Burning bushes that have clearly gone wild are seen here in woods that we drive past. I like them, but was scared off by the thought that they would threaten the well being of my lilacs (which at that time I had 6 or 8 planted) as well as the fact that burning bush berries are said to be poisonous. However my lilacs did not do well and I am down to only two survivors. I never did buy or plant a burning bush although at one point I considered it, but neighbors have them scattered over the landscape, and I'm sure they will find their way here. I have made peace with the idea, and if the bb arrive, I shall cut down any bb that appear in the close vicinity of my two lilacs or in my perennial beds at ground level. No bb can survive on my mowed lawns, and if they invade my woods, they cannot pose a threat to my trees. I really love the looks of the burning bush (or any other species with flashy red/pink/orange foliage for that matter) so if they arrive on my property I will not be entirely unhappy, nor will I wage war against them as I did with the English sparrows. I have come to terms with the burning bush!

How most invasive plants work, at least in our part of the world, is they occupy empty spaces before the natives have a chance to. They do *not* usually overwhelm already established native plants. A large part of that is that the established natives they would have to overwhelm are trees. So a mature forest with a closed canopy allows very few invasives in. if something happens to disrupt the canopy, like someone building a driveway, that is where the invasives will establish instead of early succession natives.

IME I think that they also may outcompete the herbaceous plants that would normally grow in these situations since untrimmed they tend to be densely rooted and branched so the herbaceous plants that might grow there don't. Where I've seen these growing along the woods edges, there isn't typically any herbaceous undergrowth whereas there is a fair amount of it in other wooded areas. In my neck of the woods, everything is old farmland with second growth woods.

By me, they are growing where only poison ivy grows along the stream in dense, shady hickory and oak woods.

I believe just the old "winged" BB is invasive. The variety sold nowadays is not.

I've seen the familiar 'Compactus' generating seedlings in a public planting here. So I'd expect that in a climate elsewhere, where seeding out into woods of the typical species is likely this much planted garden form would do so also.

Maine Natural Areas Program - Burning Bush

http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/invasive_plants/euonymus.htm

I agree with Embo on this - if it's Euonymus alatus, it is invasive. There is a native Euonymus that has some similarities that you might be thinking of, jama.

It is invasive to the point where its sale is now prohibited in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and restricted in New York and Connecticut.

And that is ANY variety of burning bush, Euonymus alatus. Named forms are just as inclined to invasiveness as the straight species!!

Thanks for all the input, everybody. I never got back on the original forum and thanked you, made comments, etc. Thank you! I'll keep my eye out for them more. I would only notice them in the fall with their red color. It's possible I see them and think they are something else.