How to Buy a Hawthorn Tree

Hawthorns produce leaves with serrated edges. You can even eat them.

The hawthorn tree is native to the Mediterranean region of Europe as well as to North America, where this thorny tree is popular as a drought- and disease-resistant flowering hedge or shade tree. There are nearly 200 species of hawthorn trees and shrub variants. Many can be trimmed to shrub size or allowed to grow 25 to 30 feet tall. To buy the right hawthorn, a few factors need to be considered.

Things You'll Need

• Hawthorn seedling or sapling
• Shovel

Instructions

1. Identify the site where you wish to plant your Hawthorn. These trees make a sturdy hedge if you want a natural and almost impenetrable barrier. If kept trimmed back, the tree will thicken to a tightly backed barrier with long thorns that keep out animals and people quite effectively. As a shade tree, it will grow quite tall with a breadth of some 25 feet, so be sure and allow space for the crown to spread out. Check with your nursery or supplier to identify a type of hawthorn that fits the space and application you have in mind.

2. Test the soil at the site where you plan to plant your hawthorn. Is the soil acid or alkaline, dry or wet, sand, loam or clay? Most large nurseries will carry two to six varieties of hawthorn. On-line suppliers may carry even more varieties. Washington and Winter King Hawthorns are popular in North America while English Hawthorns are widely planted in Britain and Europe. These are not the only available types, but they are easy to find and can grow in less than ideal conditions. Make sure whichever variety you choose grows in your type of soil. Though hawthorns tolerate drought, wind, heat, cold and light shade, they grow best in full sun and in soil that is well drained. They don't like chronically wet ground and prefer a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Check whether the variety you want grows well in your climate region. That information will be available from the supplier.

3. Contact your local agricultural extension service to find out what tree diseases are common in your area. Select varieties of hawthorn you've identified are resistant to the most common tree diseases in your area.

4. Smell the flowers. Hawthorns produce beautiful flowers and foliage, but some varieties do not smell good at all. Talk to experienced gardeners and nursery staff about the varieties of hawthorn you are considering. Some hawthorns smell nice while others smell bad. If you're creating a barrier around your backyard, you don't want it to be one that makes your eyes water when the flowers bloom.

5. Select the type of hawthorn plant you want. Hawthorns come as seedlings in a 3-gallon bucket, as larger saplings with an earth root ball and as bare root seedlings and saplings. Bare root saplings are the most difficult to plant successfully. Saplings have a head start on seedings.

6. Dig a hole 4 times the diameter of the container or root ball. Dig a hole only as deep as the container or rootball itself. Set the sapling or seedling so the best looking side is facing the way you want it to face. Remove any synthetic wrapping around the rootball or take it from its container. Natural burlap wrapping will decompose and can be kept in place if you untie the wire wrapped around the trunk. For wire mesh wrapped large trees, cut away as much wire as you can without removing the wire basket itself. Don't remove the mesh or you could damage the roots -- just cut some large holes to allow roots to extend through the mesh. Fill the hole around the root ball with soil as recommended on the trees planting instructions. Pile up soil to make a water ring around the plant and mulch inside it with 3 inches of mulch until the sapling is well established.

Tips & Warnings

• A Celtic legend says that if you plant an ash tree, oak tree and hawthorn in the same place, it will attract fairies. Hawthorns have generated a lot of mythology, from Roman and Greek mythology to Christmas stories and pagan legend to Christian tradition.

• Make sure the soil around your hawthorn is well drained. They do not do well in wet, soggy soil.

References

• Arbor Day: Washington Hawthorn
• English Plants: Hawthorn: Cratageous monogyna
• 20-20 Site: Hathorn Trees
• Trees On-Line: Washington Hawthorn
• Backyard Gardener: English Hawthorn
• Yardener: Hawthorn