Hawthorn

Crataegus phaenopyrum

tree

Hawthorn (Crataegus) is a small, dense, often thorny tree of hedgerows and field edges, 20 to 30 ft tall, smothered in flat clusters of white (sometimes pink) flowers in spring and hung with glossy red berries called haws from fall well into winter. Long woven into folklore and the old field hedge, it is grown today as a tough ornamental whose flowers, leaves, and berries are all gathered for the kitchen. It is exceptionally hardy and adaptable, feeds bees in bloom and birds in winter, and its branched thorns make it a living fence. Many species and a few thornless cultivars exist; all share the same five-petaled rose-family flowers and small pomes.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Comfrey — A deep-rooted nutrient accumulator that makes a good chop-and-drop mulch ring under the tree
• Yarrow — Draws beneficial insects and pollinators to the spring blossom
• Clover — A living, nitrogen-fixing groundcover that suits the open ground beneath a young tree

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Cedar-hawthorn rust →

  Keep hawthorns away from junipers/red cedars, the alternate host, and choose resistant species where rust is common

• Fire blight →

  Avoid heavy nitrogen, prune out blackened shoot tips well below the damage, and disinfect tools between cuts

• Lace bugs →

  Hose off the undersides of leaves; healthy trees tolerate the stippling damage

🌾 Harvest & storage

Gather the white flowers with their young leaves in spring as they open, snipping whole flower clusters on a dry day and drying them quickly in a shaded, airy place. Pick the red haws in fall once they are fully colored and slightly soft, after the first light frost sweetens them; the firm flesh is used for jellies, syrups, and teas, with the single hard seeds strained out. Mind the thorns when reaching in. Dry berries whole or process fresh.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Hawthorn haws are edible, mealy and mildly sweet-tart, and are cooked into jelly, syrup, fruit leather, and a traditional tea; the young spring leaves and flowers are also gathered for tea and were once nibbled as "bread and cheese." In the garden it earns its keep as a hardy flowering tree, a thorny wildlife hedge, and a reliable source of berries for the kitchen.