Red escallonia
A pink-red South American shrub of coastal hedges; it gives honey bees and bumblebees plenty of nectar all summer and tolerates salt wind.
- Nectar
- Good
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Height
- 1-3 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Red escallonia is an evergreen shrub with glossy leaves and pink-red flowers from the Andes of Chile and Argentina. It is very common as a windbreak hedge in the coastal towns of Western Europe. Its short-tubed flowers give plenty of nectar; honey bees and bumblebees visit regularly throughout the summer.
Flowering
In the northern hemisphere it flowers from June to September; a light trim after flowering can bring a second flush. In its native Chile, flowering falls between late spring and midsummer, that is December to February.
Honey and pollen
Besides nectar it also gives a small amount of pollen. It is not harvested as a separate honey.
Note for the beekeeper
It is very tolerant of salty winds and is valuable as hedging for apiaries in coastal areas. It has naturalised on some coasts of Ireland and Britain. It does not like hard, prolonged frost; in Turkey it can be grown on the Black Sea, Marmara and Aegean coasts.