I Like Hawthorns

Littlehip haw - Crataegus spathulata

May haw - Crataegus aestivalis

Summer haw - Crataegus flava
I have a special love of hawthorns (Crataegus spp.) that I cannot trace back to any one instance or event in my life. It could be that my love of all things related to the ancient Celts had something to do with it. The Celts found magic in hawthorns. The folklore surrounding hawthorns is widespread. Other European cultures associated haws with May Flowers - Mary's Flowers - and they hung them on their doorways to bring good luck and to protect it from evil spirits. It may be that my love of this genus started to "blossom" in full after I moved south from my earlier life in the Midwest. Up north, there are just so many flowering trees in the rose/apple family to use in one's landscape and I've loved roses from early childhood. With my move to Florida, I soon discovered that the vast majority of roses that I was familiar with could not be grown here with any real success. One notable exception, were members of the hawthorn family.
At this point in my life, it seems immaterial as to why I came to love this genus. I simply do. Their apple-blossom show of color in the spring is something I look forward to with great relish. The haws/hips that they produce later in the year are not especially tasty to my palette, but they are a wonderful food for birds (and squirrels).  So, in the spring, they are one of the best plants for pollinators and later they are a great choice for the wildlife garden.
I named my hobby nursery Hawthorn Hill for my admiration of this genus and I scour every nook and cranny for stock to add to my landscape. It has not been easy. Very few nurseries in the Southeast routinely grow hawthorns. A great many of the species I have added to my new landscape are specimens I had to grow myself, but even that is not easy. Most haws have a very complicated seed scarification process that requires various periods of cold and warm. Most do not germinate in less than 2 years. I used to give up on my flats of hawthorn seed way before I should have. Most of the seedlings I got were the result of seed sprouting in soil I was reusing for something else. For just that reason, I treasure the plants I have. Most seem to be a miracle.
I have not planted mayhaw (C. aestivalis) in my new landscape for no real reason as it is one of the few species that is regularly propagated. I have planted the others native to Florida, however. Most are seed grown and only 2-3 years old. Because most of the haws I've grown in the past do not flower and set fruit until they are ~7 years old, I may be waiting a few more years before my plants produce the Spring show that I treasure so much. I'm willing to wait. 
Haws provide a lot of headaches and "discussion" among plant taxonomists as they are clonal and clones in one location may develop small differences in physical characteristics from clones nearby. The "splitters" most often separate these clones as different species while the "lumpers" don't. I have added two such "species" that I collected fruit from that have quite distinct characteristics from the typical summer haw - C. flava.  Whether they truly are unique species is unimportant to me; they came from excursions I've made to wonderful places and they remind me of those trips. Therefore, I have a "red haw" that I found growing at Topsail Beach State Park in scrub sands that was mature at 6 feet and producing deep red fruit and I have a "Reifler haw" that was given to me by my friend, Steve Reifler, that I've seen in the Lake Wales Ridge as another dwarf that reaches only about 5 feet tall. The others in my new landscape are recognized by most taxonomists.  Their foliage, for the most part, is quite distinctive and I've added photos showing their leaves below.
Though you may not share my overabundant enthusiasm for this genus, I encourage you to check them out a bit if you are looking for a flowering tree that does not get too large for a typical home landscape. My developing landscape is rich with haws.
Cockspur haw - C. crus-galli

Green haw - C. viridis

Littlehip haw - C. spathulata

Summer haw - C. flava

Washington haw - C. phaenopyrum

Parsley haw - C. marshallii

One-flowered haw - C. uniflora

Dwarf haw - C. lepida

Sandhill haw - C. lassa


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