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'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: in full bloom
Mother Nature's Montrose Garden, Montrose CO
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For
the past few months we’ve featured non-native fruiting shrubs and trees chosen
by the previous gardener. These ‘Legacy
Plants’ are mature, provide food and are important habitat plants. For those
reasons, we’ve chosen to retain them, even though we’re transitioning to more
native plants. For more on Legacy
Plants see: https://mothernaturesmontrosegarden.blogspot.com/2019/08/creating-your-colorado-friendly-garden.html
This
month we focus on a non-native tree, Crateagus
laevigata (pronounced krah-TEE-gus
lee-vih-GAY-tuh). The Midland hawthorn (also known as English or Woodland
hawthorn, or Mayflower) is native to western and central Europe, from Great
Britain and Spain east to the Czech Republic and Hungary. In England, it is largely confined to the lowland
ancient woodlands.
The
hawthorns, genus Crateagus (in the Rose family), are a group of several
hundred species native to temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. Almost all are shrubs or small trees and
most are notable for their thorns – modified branch tips that are stout and
sharp. The hawthorns produce small fruits
which can be made into jams, jellies, juices, alcoholic beverages, and other
drinks. The young leaves are sometimes eaten
fresh and many species have a history of medicinal uses.
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| Hawthorn fruits make juice, jelly, beverages and syrup |
Four species of Hawthorn are native to Western
Colorado [1]. These are Crateagus
macrocantha var. occidentales,
C. erythropoda, C. saligna and C. rivularis. Of these C. rivularis, the River
hawthorn, is the most common. This
species grows in the intermountain states from Canada to the Four Corners
states and Texas. A nice shrub/small
tree, the River hawthorn has edible fruits and is very hardy. It also has formidable thorns, and is almost
never available in the nursery trade. We’ve
tried to grow it ourselves from seed – thus far with no success.
Since
native hawthorns are difficult to procure, most gardeners grow either Crateagus laevigata (and its cultivars), Crateagus monogyna (Common hawthorn) or hybrids between the two. Crateagus laevigata differs from Crateagus
monogyna, in several ways. The leaves
are more shallowly lobed and, more importantly, each flower has more than one
style (and hence, more than one seed per fruit). Of the two, C. laevigata or it’s hybrids are more widely used
in U.S. gardens.
Two
cultivars of Midland hawthorn are readily available in the U.S. ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ hawthorn is a showy tree,
15-20 ft. (4.5-6 m.) tall with bright magenta blooms. Unfortunately, this cultivar is more
susceptible to a variety of pests that can cause summer defoliation: Aphids,
Beetle Borers, Scales and Spider Mites, Fire Blight, Armillaria, Powdery
Mildew, Root Rot, Rust and Sooty Mold.
‘Crimson Cloud’ hawthorn cultivar is resistant to the
leaf blight that can be the bane of ‘Paul’s Scarlet’. It is similar in size, shape and other
characteristics – including the showy spring flowers and edible fruit. It is grown – and loved - in gardens
throughout the U.S. We are fortunate to
have inherited a mature specimen.
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: growth habit |
Our
‘Crimson Cloud’ Midland Hawthorn is currently the largest tree in our front
yard. Mature size is 20-25 ft. (6-7.5 m)
tall and about 15-20 ft. (4.5-6 m.) wide. This cultivar usually grows as a
single tree, but sometimes spreads by suckers to form a clump. The growth form is upright and rounded, though
the form can be somewhat erratic. In
fact, you can deduce the common wind direction from the form of our
hawthorn. This cultivar is said to be
thornless; ours has a few tip thorns, but nothing like the natives.
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: foliage |
Crateagus
laevigata (and its
cultivars) have gray-brown bark and medium- to dark-green foliage. The foliage is dense, making this a good
small shade tree (even in winter). The glossy
leaves are alternate, lobed with crenulated edges. The foliage – and the tree itself – are handsome
in leaf. The tree is only moderately so
when deciduous (in winter). And fall
leaf color is not notable.
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: winter |
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: flowering plant |
Midland
hawthorns really shine in spring, when they are covered in pink blossoms. In our
area, this plant blooms in late April or May, depending on the temperatures.
The flowers are bright magenta/pink with white centers and scented. The flowers attract lots of bee pollinators;
you can literally hear the buzzing when you approach a blooming hawthorn.
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: fruits are pomes |
The
flowers are followed by small (1/4-1/2 inch) fruits, which ripen slowly and are
ready for eating after a few good frosts.
The fruits look like tiny apples (they, like apples, are pomes) and are
dark red to black when ripe. We pick the
fruits for making jelly and syrup, although there are many other uses. The
fruits remain showy into late fall and even winter (below).
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'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: note fruits
remaining on tree in winter
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Birds
also eat the fruit. While they don’t
seem to be a bird’s first choice, the remaining fruits are eagerly eaten all
winter. This makes hawthorn a good
year-round bird habitat plant. The dense
foliage and size make it a choice tree for nesting and cover. We’ve had both
Blackbirds and Robins nest in ours. And the fruits provide important
nourishment when other foods are scarce.
The
Midland hawthorn and cultivars are easy to grow and widely available. They are hardy from USDA Hardiness Zone 4 or
5 to 8. We’ve even seen ‘Crimson Cloud’ growing
in Zone 10 regions of S. California! The
plant is quite adaptable in the types of soils it accepts: clay soils are fine,
and the pH range is reported to be wide.
‘Crimson Cloud’ certainly thrives in soils with pH around 8.0 in Western
Colorado.
Hawthorns
like full sun best, but will tolerate a little shade (fruiting may be decreased
in shadier locations). They also need
semi-regular water; probably best with at least a weekly deep watering during
dry periods western U.S. It will not
tolerate standing water. We don’t prune
ours much. Just remove old, unhealthy or
crossing branches, those that detract from the shape, and the
water-sprouts.
In
our dry climate we have not experienced much trouble with pests or diseases. ‘Crimson
Cloud’ is resistant to leaf spot diseases, but since hawthorns are in the Rose
family, one should examine plants for fungal diseases, fire blight, scales and
spider mites, particularly in warm, damp weather.
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: specimen tree |
The
English hawthorns make lovely garden trees, even in smaller gardens. They provide shade year-round. Their small
size makes them appropriate for street trees and under power lines. In Europe, they are commonly used in hedgerows
and screens. In the U.S., they are more
often used as specimen plants. They can
be trained for espalier (or even bonsai) and are sometimes grown for their
fruits.
Hawthorns
are important bird habitat plants, and should be considered for this reason
alone. They have a long history of use as medicinal plants (see references
2-4). They are easy-care and likely have a long life, even in gardens. They are
moderately hardy to urban air pollution.
And they are an attractive, edible alternative to other non-native trees
planted in the Four Corners states.
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| 'Crimson Cloud' Hawthorn: juice from fruits |
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- Weber, WA & Wittman RC. Colorado Flora – Western Slope, 4th ed. 2012, University Press of Colorado
- https://pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?latinname=Crataegus+laevigata
- https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-527/hawthorn
- https://wa.kaiserpermanente.org/kbase/topic.jhtml?docId=hn-2106005
For more pictures of this plant see:
For plant information sheets on western native plants see: http://nativeplantscsudh.blogspot.com/p/gallery-of-native-plants_17.html
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We
welcome your comments (below). You can
also send your questions to: monaturesmontrosegarden@gmail.com
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