Escallonia Propagation, how long?

So we want to enclose the side part of our garden however we are not allowed fencing to the height I would like we could do it anyway but we would risk potentially being forced to take it all back down if anyone decides to complain...

So next option is a hedge and I quite like the look of Escallonia however the length needed to be hedged is just under 29m so as you can imagine were looking at around £350-£400 which is way out of our budget we would be looking at needing a minimum of 145 9cm potted plants worked out at 5 per a meter or 87 2lt potted plants worked out at 3 per a meter so were not talking about just a few plants

So what I wondered was could I buy 10+ larger plants and plant them in place now and over the next year or so take astronomical amounts of cuttings and go about it that way? Do Escallonia take well from semi-ripe cuttings?

 

Hi there, sorry, not sure if this is useful, but 99p store are selling Escallonia just now for errrrm, 99p, lol x

 

I've grown Escallonia hedging for my son-in-law from cuttings. If you need some screening now then your idea is probably the way to go. I would get them planted now and take soft-ish cuttings late spring early summer, in fact it's easier just to pull off the shorter, younger shoots from branches with a heel attached, then remove the lower leaves. I dipped them in rooting powder and put them in individual three inch pots, they take very easily. Don't forget a few extra's as security though. I also did the same for a Hebe hedge for my neighbour and they also rooted easily. Have you considered Hebe? It's a denser, softer hedge and won't need trimming as much as Escallonia. Escallonia needs two to three cuts a year, I can get away with one for Hebe.

Both the Escallonia and the Hebe were planted out at the same time and the Hebe seems to have a slightly quicker growth rate than the Escallonia.