Escallonia Red Hedger

Escallonia Red Hedger is an excellent choice for hedging, especially in seaside locations. This is hardy and reliable evergreen shrub. Native to South America, Escallonia Red Hedger is a popular hedging plant in the UK, for both its evergreen foliage and the bright flowers in summer. The shiny, dark green leaves remain all winter, providing an excellent privacy screen year-round. From June to October, the plants are covered with bright red fragrant flowers which are very attractive to bees. The leaves themselves are also fragrant, especially after a rain shower.
Best grown in a sheltered position in colder regions, Escallonia Red Hedger will grow at a rate of 30-45 cm a year to a mature height and spread of 3 metres in 5 to 10 years. For hedges, plant 30-40 cm apart. Escallonia Red Hedger can be pruned to maintain the desired shape and size, and in fact will respond to a hard pruning into old wood by growing more densely. It is best to do a severe pruning in early spring, but will take a year to flower again. Lightly prune in the autumn after flowering is done to ensure plentiful flowers the next year. It is best to prune Escallonia Red Hedger so that it forms a pyramid shape to allow the sun to reach all the leaves.
Escallonia Red Hedger will grow best in well-drained sandy soil, in a position where it will receive full sun but be protected from cold winter winds in colder regions. It is particularly resistant to sea salt and wind burn, making it a great choice for seaside hedges.
The name gives it away that Escallonia Red Hedger is an ideal hedging plant. Alone or mixed in with other shrubs, its dense, evergreen growth habit, tolerance of pruning, and lovely summer flowers and fragrance make it very desirable. One plant makes an excellent specimen at the back of a mixed border, where its summer flowers make a lovely picture and its year-round foliage provides a reliable backdrop. It can also be trained against a wall where it will receive both shelter and plenty of sun. In coastal regions such as Cornwall or Devon, its tolerance for salt air makes it an ideal plant for hedges.
Escallonia Red Hedger is a sturdy shrub with evergreen foliage and summer flowers which will grow to form a living wall or fence in a few years!