hi

first... all 'ever'greens .. lose their leaves ... eventually ... usually within about 1 to 3 years ..... this is sped up by potting [the wholesaler???] ... moving it from one location to another [greenhouse to seller in big truck ... to roof ... e.g., etc] .. these changes affect its CULTURE ... humidity .. sun ... wind.. etc [just like you moving to from the equator to the north pole.. you will live.. but you will be in culture shock]

second... a bad cold winter [did you tell us where you are???] .. in a pot doesnt help either ... especially on a roof ... as winter sun.. warming the pot can be problematic .... etc ... [note all the etc's ... there is just so much going on its hard to ID any specific reason] ...

so by the time it gets to this point.. i would just about rule out disease ... mostly because you are supposed to be buying 'clean' stock ... and disease.. on otherwise unstressed plants.. is just not that relatively common ... so i default to bad winter ....

so... all that said .. third.. its probably winter damage.. on an otherwise stressed plant ...

life is all in the buds.. and i have had alleged evergreen lose every single leaf/needle.. and just bud out in spring.. like there is no tomorrow ... and all you can and should do.. is give it time ....

i am of the thinking.. that we dont fertilize stressed plants.. lets just perfect proper watering .. which usually isnt all that much in spring.. with cool nights .. protect it from any late frost or freezes.. especially once it starts budding out ... and .. carp.. coffee buzz.. lol .. lost track ... oh ...

and another thing.. lol ... it is your responsibility to train a plant to a trellis.. no plant.. does it itself... ever ... but that is for a later time ...

lets get it growing.. and then.. with some better pix.. we can give you some ideas for training it.. into the shape you want ... and yes. we dont cut all the low long stuff off ... some we do.. and others.. we allow to elongate.. so we can bend them back to the trellis for training .... sorta like growing out your bangs ...

all that.. or its dead.. lol ... trust me.. we all killed things on the learning curve.. its how we learn ....

so give it a few weeks ... or a month.. and report back ... this is not a foo foo plant.. i have high hopes.. as long as you dont kill it with too much love ....

ken

Ken,

Thank you, your post is great. I am going to be patient, as like you said, the plant is not fussy, and appears to be budding. Do you recommend that I pull dead/damaged leaves off, or just leave as-is? (I'm in Hoboken, NJ - zone 6)

I would love to reach out to you again for help training the branches to climb. I've watched several web videos on how to maintain the plants, but to be honest, they weren't overly informative.

Thank you again,
Christine

'Manhattan' Euonymus is a very vigorous shrub/small tree that can grow as a stand-alone to 14 feet or more, but will certainly climb if given a shaded location and something to which it can attach its rootlets -- for example a brick wall in shade.

That said, your plant most likely is showing the effects of a rather severe winter (insane cold duration) coupled with your very exposed situation (container + rooftop). But even though these plants are considered 'evergreen', in the colder edges of its hardiness range it will lose leaves, but still remain twig hardy.

If buds look green, it will leaf out again. These plants can take a lot of shearing, so pruning will not hurt it much.

These are among the earliest evergreens to leaf out in the Spring, so you should know real soon how alive it is. As Ken said, just be patient.

Once new growth has occured and you have a better sense of any damaged twigs, you can remove any unsightly leaves or dead stems.

This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Tue, Mar 25, 14 at 12:28