I agree with bboy. Mine died back to the ground last year with all of our snow. I cut it all off, it is now 2 ft tall. I lost another one a few years ago over a harsh winter.

I believe a lot depends on siting and soil conditions. I've seen 20+ year old plants come through recent winters unscathed while others have been killed back to the roots. In a protected location out of the wind, with a maritime aspect and with sharp drainage, you may have very good luck with it.

The only familiar, repeatedly sold and planted one I've seen keep all of the top through colder local winters is 'Donard Seedling'. It defoliates, but does not die down. A different type than 'Frades', arching and not dense, with smaller leaves. Much more graceful, but not lush-looking.

Always called 'Apple Blossom' by nurseries, but that is a different one, that looks much more like 'Frades'. I've only seen it in person at the Seattle arboretum, and the planting of it there seems to have frozen out.

The Phillips/Rix Shrubs picture book has flowering sprigs of 'Donard Seedling' and 'Apple Blossom' shown side-by-side, perhaps because there seems to be at least a little confusion between the two in Britain also (where the book was written).

thanks everyone!

I planted three dwarf escallonias a decade ago, can't remember the name but they were pink. We had a bad winter and they died and did not return from the roots. I'm in SE Portland.

I'm located in SW Portland and have 6 dwarf escallonia along my entry sidewalk (north side of the house) that are 8 yrs old and doing very well.
There were 2 more next to the house in the front bed but I pulled them out this past summer. They were in full shade and after all the snow last winter they didn't recover.

Today I observed a 'Frades' growing at a business near me got cooked during a recent cold spell. South exposure, asphalt all around, evergreen hedge a bit to the north.

The dwarf escallonias across the lane from me took a major hit last(?) winter. Parts of their crowns are still brown and dead. I pulled the two I planted on Camano Island out.

Escallonia and Ceanothus are by far the two most commonly used hedging material on our island. I work for Parks here and we have actually chainsawed down huge bushes of Escallonia because they were getting out of hand and blocking the ocean view from the park in town. We cut them down to stumps nearly ground level and they resprouted back full force. There was also another huge specimen of Escallonia Pink Princess growing in front of our local movie theater. It was encroaching onto the walkway beside the building and getting way to out of hand. The gardeners also chainsawed that one down as well. It has completley resprouted. If you want a smaller growing variety then go with Newport Dwarf, very common here as well and tolerates seaside conditions and salt spray. Cheers, Joe

Not everyone lives at the beach.

Pink Princess is a trademarked name used to sell the 'Frades' cultivar.

I have about 5 Pink Princess Escallonia here in Puyallup Washington, they didn't appreciate when our temps got down to 8 degrees this winter for multiple days. They all look very sad. When is the best time to cut them back?

I've had die back before of some of them due to harsh winters and they've come back but I'm not sure when is best time to cut them back. And cutting to ground OK?

Cut out all the dead when new growth starts.

Or when you are tired of looking at it. They are able to come back from the root crown, you don't have to worry about cutting too much off.

So sad to read your winter die back stories. Has anyone had a large variety escallonia survive last PNW winter ok?

I live on Bainbridge and close to the water, so conditions here are likely milder than with other PNW locations. I have seen no issue with any escallonia in my area. In fact, a 6' tall hedge of them, across the street from the beach, was untouched by last winter. But then it was extremely mild most of the winter until the February snowstorm and even then not overly cold....just too much heavy, wet snow that caused breakage but not cold damage.

I haven't seen any notable damage to escallonia in the west Sound area since our last intense Arctic blast back in November 2010.

I have an escallonia that looks like Pink Princess, which I rescued from a local coffee roaster's landscape redo - they were being replaced. It's very happy in my southern Puget Sound (close to the water) location and is probably 12-14 feet tall. I keep it pruned back so it doesn't overtake the walkway at the side of my house, but the last few years the lower part of the bush has lots of dead branches, while the upper parts are very healthy. It's in a place where it doesn't really matter (can't really see the lower part from the house) but I'm wondering if I cut out some portions of the dead, back to the main part of the trunk, might it resprout under there? Or should I just trim it back and plant some different shade loving shrubs to fill in the hollow area when the dead is removed?

I am in Vancouver, Washington and I've had one for 3 years and it has stayed green throughout the winter. I do have a somewhat sheltered garden. It is very vigorous and grows like crazy. I actually would like to transplant it to a different location. Anyone know how well they transplant?