Escallonia ‘Apple Blossom’

Escallonia 'Apple Blossom' (Escallonia 'Apple Blossom') is the flowering hedge for gardens too cold or too windy for a lilly pilly. It reaches about 1.8m tall and 1.5m wide, holds small glossy leaves right down to ground level, and covers itself in soft pink and white blossom through the warmer months. Frost hardy and genuinely salt tolerant is a rare pairing, and it is what makes this shrub so useful.

Why you'll love it

• Frost hardy and salt tolerant. It handles cold southern winters and exposed coastal blocks, which rules out most flowering hedges.
• It screens and flowers at once. Dense evergreen cover to 1.8m, with apple blossom pink and white flowers over months rather than weeks.
• Wildlife works it hard. The flowers draw bees and butterflies, and small birds shelter in the dense growth.
• It clips willingly. Small leaves take shears cleanly, so it suits a formal hedge as readily as an informal screen, and it is drought tolerant once settled.

Where it works best

Hedging and screening. Plant 1m apart centre to centre for a dense hedge, which is ten plants for a ten metre run. Widen to 1.5m for an informal screen where each shrub keeps its own shape.

Coastal gardens and windbreaks. Salt and wind tolerance make it a front line hedge on an exposed block. A staggered double row at 1m filters wind rather than blocking it.

Borders and feature planting. A single plant works as a rounded flowering shrub in a mixed border.

Growing escallonia in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun gives the heaviest flowering and the densest growth. This is a plant for cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean gardens, and it is frost hardy once established. It is not the pick for the wet tropics or humid subtropical summers, where the leaves are prone to spotting and the plant sulks.

Soil. Free draining soil of almost any type. Work compost through heavy clay or plant on a raised mound, since it will not tolerate wet feet through winter.

Water and feed. Deep soak twice a week through the first summer, then taper off as the roots go down. A complete slow release fertiliser in early spring and again after the main flowering keeps growth dense.

Pruning. Trim lightly after each flush of flowers to build density and encourage the next round. An old or leggy hedge can be cut back hard in late winter, and it shoots readily from bare wood.

What to expect when it arrives

This escallonia is grown in one size, as tube stock. That suits its main use, because a hedge of any length is far cheaper in tubes and they establish faster than larger stock. Expect a young single stemmed plant, not a shrub in flower.

Tubes travel well and should go in the ground within a few days of arrival. Water them the day they land, then tip prune from the start to build a dense base. Expect a hedge you can trim to shape by the third season. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• How to plant a hedge and keep it looking sharp
• Salt tolerant plants for coastal gardens
• Compare hedging and screening plants
• More plants that feed bees and butterflies

Common questions

How far apart should I plant a hedge?

One metre apart, centre to centre, for a dense clipped hedge. At 1.5m you get an informal screen with the shape of each shrub still visible.

Will it grow in a humid subtropical garden?

It is marginal. Escallonia is at its best in cool temperate, warm temperate and Mediterranean climates, and humid summers bring on leaf spotting. A lilly pilly is the better hedge in the north.

How long until tubes make a hedge?

About three seasons in full sun with regular water and feeding. Tip pruning from the day you plant makes a bigger difference to density than starting with a larger plant.