Hawthorn

Hawthorn: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Shrub or small tree of 4–10 m with a dense, rounded crown; often grown as a hedge.

Leaf

Alternate, small (2–5 cm), deeply cut into 3–7 lobes.

Bark

Grey-brown; twigs with sharp thorns 1–2.5 cm long.

Flower

Clusters of white, strongly scented flowers in May.

Fruit

Red berries with a single stone (hence monogyna, ‘one-styled’).

Difference from Midland hawthorn

Midland hawthorn has a less deeply lobed leaf and berries with 2–3 stones; hybrids are common.

Flowering: May · Harvest and fruit: April–May and September–October · Pruning: June–September and November–March

Identify by feature: Lobed leaves (like an oak) · White blossom · Red berries · Thorns or prickles

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Midland hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata): less deeply lobed leaf and berries with 2–3 stones; hybrids are common.

Why grow it?

• An impenetrable native hedge that can be clipped neatly.
• White blossom in May for bees and other insects.
• Red haws in autumn for thrushes, blackbirds and fieldfares.
• A safe nesting site among the thorns.
• Grows on almost any soil, in sun or partial shade.

Hawthorn: where does it grow best?

• Sun to partial shade; it flowers most freely in sun.
• Almost any soil, from sand to clay, including chalky soil; no ground that stays flooded for long.
• As a tree 5–6 m wide; as a hedge it fits in any garden.
• Can carry fireblight: don’t plant it right next to apple or pear trees.

Light

Sun or partial shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

8 m tall, 6 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Hazel: Together a mixed native hedge or hedgerow.
• Blackthorn: Flowers as early as March–April, before the hawthorn: together a thorny thicket for birds.
• Dog rose: Flowers in June and bears hips in autumn.
• Common honeysuckle: Climbs through the hedge and is fragrant in the evening.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Together a mixed native hedge, good for birds and insects: blackthorn, hazel, dog rose, common dogwood, guelder rose, wild privet, field maple, hornbeam

Best kept away from

• Fruit trees that can catch fireblight from this plant: apple, pear, nashi pear

Hawthorn: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or root-balled.
2. For a hedge: 3–5 plants per metre in a single row, or 5–7 per metre in a staggered double row.
3. Cut hedging plants back by a third after planting: this makes them branch at the base.
4. Water after planting, mulch the ground and keep the strip free of grass for the first few years.

Care

Watering

In dry spells during the first year; rarely needed after that.

Feeding

Not needed; a little compost in spring under a young hedge.

Young hedge

Trim a young hedge lightly every year for the first few years, so it becomes dense at the base.

Fireblight

In summer, look for blackened, scorched-looking shoot tips that bend over like a shepherd’s crook.

Tip: Plant a mixed hedge of hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn and dog rose: something will be in flower from January to June, and there will be berries from September into winter.

Hawthorn: when to prune it?

Pruning months: June–September and November–March.

When: Clip a hedge after flowering, in late June, and if needed in late August. Prune a tree in winter.

How:

• Tolerates hard pruning; you can have an old hedge ‘laid’ or cut it back in winter.
• Clip a hedge slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom, so the base gets light too.
• A free-standing hawthorn needs little pruning: remove dead, crossing and low branches.
• Wear sturdy gloves and long sleeves against the thorns.

Caution: Don’t clip during the nesting season while birds are still nesting in the hedge: check first. Disinfect your secateurs if you cut out branches with fireblight.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Sowing

Take the stones from ripe haws and sow them outdoors in a pot in autumn; they often only germinate in the second spring.

Seedlings

Birds sow it by themselves: you can move a young seedling into the hedge in winter.

Hawthorn: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• The red haws often stay on into winter: winter food for thrushes, blackbirds and fieldfares.

Diseases and pests

• Fireblight: Flowers and shoot tips suddenly turn brownish-black, as if scorched, and the tips bend over. In dry weather, cut affected branches back well into healthy wood and disinfect your secateurs.
• Ermine moth: In May–June the hedge is sometimes covered in greyish-white webs full of caterpillars that strip the leaves. It looks dramatic, but the shrub leafs out again in summer.
• Powdery mildew: White, powdery coating on young shoots, especially on clipped hedges. Usually harmless.
• Aphids: Aphids on young shoots in spring; tits and ladybirds clear them up.

Through the year

• January: Winter pruning of free-growing shrubs and trees; cut back an old hedge.
• February: Winter pruning; have an old hedge laid.
• March: Last month for winter pruning and planting.
• May: Flowering: white, fragrant blossom for insects.
• June: Clip the hedge after flowering (late June), once birds have stopped nesting.
• July: Check for fireblight and cut out affected shoots.
• August: Second clip of the hedge in late August, if needed.
• September: Last clip of the hedge; the haws turn red.
• October: Haws for the birds; sow the stones.
• November: Plant hedging; winter pruning can begin.
• December: Winter pruning of trees and free-growing shrubs.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Impenetrable, stock-proof hedge; also grown as a small tree.

For wildlife

A top plant: flowers for insects, berries for birds and a safe nesting site.

Food and drink

The haws are edible cooked (jelly) but taste bland; don’t eat the stone.

Edible and useful

Leaves (April)

The young, fresh green leaves in April can be eaten raw, in a salad or a sandwich. In England they were known as ‘bread and cheese’.

Blossom (May)

Blossom and young leaves in May, in dry weather, to dry for tea. The blossom has a strong smell that some people find a little unpleasant.

Berries (September–October)

The red haws in September and October, when they are dark red and slightly soft. Raw, they taste mealy and bland; cooked and sieved, they make ketchup, jelly or syrup.

Storing

Dry blossom and leaves on a rack in the shade and keep them in a closed jar, in the dark, for up to a year. Haws can be frozen.

Caution: Do not eat the stones: they contain cyanogenic compounds. Always sieve them out. If you take medicines for your heart or blood pressure, do not drink hawthorn tea regularly without discussing it with your doctor. Do not confuse haws with the berries of yew, holly or cotoneaster. Hawthorn has deeply lobed leaves and thorns. Pick well away from busy roads and sprayed fields, and never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Hawthorn tea (Tea · 1 cup · 10 min)
• Haw ketchup (Other · ± 500 ml · 1 hr)
• Herb quark with young hawthorn leaves (Dish · ± 4 portions (as a spread) · 15 min + 15 min resting)
• Hawthorn berry and apple jelly (Jelly · ± 4 jars of 250 ml · 1 hr + 3 hrs dripping)

Good for wildlife

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Caterpillars

Host plant: caterpillars of butterflies or moths eat the leaves.

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Hoverflies

Open flowers for hoverflies; many of their larvae eat aphids.

Hedgehogs

Shelter and a layer of leaf litter full of insects.

Did you know?

• Its old name ‘may’ refers to its flowering in May. One of the best shrubs for birds and insects.
• Hawthorn hedges were traditionally laid to form an impenetrable, stock-proof barrier.
• The blossom smells sweet but also a little musty: a scent that mainly attracts flies and beetles.
• In England, bringing hawthorn blossom indoors was once thought to bring bad luck. The flowers contain trimethylamine, a substance also given off by decay.
• In Glastonbury in England grows a form of hawthorn that also flowers around Christmas. Legend says it sprang from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea.