Escallonia Donard Star

Escallonia 'Donard Star' is a beautiful evergreen bush with a long flowering period in dark pink. Moderately hardy, but robust and undemanding, it thrives in coastal gardens and adapts to all regions that are not too cold in winter. With its elegant glossy foliage, this excellent subject for a flowering hedge is beautiful all year round. It offers a long summer flowering in the form of flowers in a deep pink, gathered in small clusters. Like many escallonias, it loves the sun in cooler climates, tolerates shade in hot climates, and withstands sea spray and summer drought once well established. If your climate allows it, plant Escallonia, these rewarding shrubs grow quickly, they are floriferous, often fragrant, and accommodating!

The 'Donard Star' Escallonia is a horticultural creation born in Northern Ireland, at the Slieve Donard nursery, where many hybrids such as 'Pride of Donard', 'Donard Beauty', or 'Donard Seedling' have been developed, all excellent garden plants in mild climates. Escallonias belong to the Escalloniaceae family and are native to temperate areas of South America and Chile. In the wild, these shrubs grow among the scrub covering the hillsides or on the coasts exposed to sea spray. Escallonia rubra var. macrantha, one of the ancestors of the 'Donard Star' selection, is a vigorous shrub with variable appearance, with large leaves and flowers.

The variety 'Donard Star' forms a branched shrub with a bushy and rounded habit, of fairly rapid growth, reaching an average height of 1.65 m at maturity, with a similar spread. It is distinguished by its larger leaves than those of other varieties, evergreen, leathery, alternate, ovate, with toothed edges and shiny dark green. They are densely arranged on the branches. Flowering takes place for about two months between June and September, earlier or later depending on the climate, sometimes as early as May in hot climates. It takes the form of small clusters, composed of five-petaled, tubular bell-shaped flowers, in shades of pink to dark pink, 2.5 cm in diameter, enclosed at the base in a red and green calyx.

Escallonias are a great alternative to Weigelas in mild climates, by the seaside as well as in gardens without irrigation. 'Donard Star' only dislikes cold winds and harsh winters. It does not mind heat or dry summers once established. It tolerates some limestone and can still flower in slightly shaded situations. It is essential in coastal gardens with Olearias, Atriplex, Polygala myrtifolia, Grevillea (in neutral to acidic soil). It also pairs well with spring-flowering shrubs like lilacs, brooms, Kolkwitzia amabilis, or bush roses.