Will Escallonia stand up to strong winds?
We have a north-east-facing garden on a hillside. When we moved in the fence at the bottom of the garden was completely rotten and the box shrubs in front of it were all dead or dying. We have ripped out the fence and most of the box.
I want to plant a hedge that will withstand strong winds (which we don't get often but do get once or twice in Winter) so that we don't need to build another fence there.
I've heard Escallonia is good for coastal gardens so assume it can stand up to the occasional strong wind, plus I think they're gorgeous little shrubs with lovely flowers.
Does anyone have any experience with escallonia and whether it will survive in a spot like this? How long will 30-50cm plants in 2L pots take to grow to 1m and 2m and is there anything I will need to do to protect the plants while young?
Current favourites are Escallonia Iveyi & Donard Seedling.
Any advice people can give would be great 
Many thanks, Jade
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We're very exposed & coastal, mum is approx. 10 miles away & on top of a hill but a wee bit further inland. We bought escallonia macrantha in bulk several years ago & hers is tall & hedge like (it gets shelter on one side from the house) but mine is growing almost horizontally due to the wind!! Planning on giving it a good prune & then putting a debris netting windbreak up to see if that helps. Going by everything else that's growing in your photo, I think it would be fine - it certainly looks less exposed than where mum's is growing well!
Great, thanks for the advice! Macrantha was another one that's on hedges direct available to buy in bulk so I may add that to the mix and have a nice red to pink to white thing going
If you're in a wet, cold area, or in the north, be wary of Iveyii - like many white plants, it's not as robust. The pink ones are much hardier.
Iveyii doesn't survive the winters for me here in Scotland.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have Donard seedling and I am in a fairly windy area. It seems to be quite happy. Been in about 20 years.
Thanks for the advice everyone, that's been really helpful. It's not that cold and windy here, I'm in the Midlands so nowhere near the coast and not as far up as Scotland.
I think what I'll do is buy 4 Macrantha (2 each side) , 6 Donard Seedling (3 each side) and just 3 Iveyi for in the middle, that way, if the Iveyi don't do well I can replace with more Donard Seedling or another variety next year.
Iveyi is not at all hardy. It's lovely but I had one once in a sheltered south facing garden and it only lasted one year. On the other hand I've had good success over the years with 'apple blossom ' and 'macrantha'.