Kitchen Garden Forum

I decided some years ago to plant a hawthorn hege around my kitchen garden as a wind break, value to wildlife and because they look beautiful when they flower, but after 5 yrs, despite eager anticipation every spring, it has never flowered...does anyone know if there are more than one type of hawthorn, maybe one that doesn't flower? I didn't think so and I got it from a reputable garden centre, that has sadly gone out of business since.

A hawthorn hedge that is clipped regularly will not flower. To flower, any tree or shrub needs to develop mature wood, but if it is kept regularly clipped, or pruned very hard, only juvenile wood is allowed to grow. It is for this reason that beech hedges retain their leaves: a mature beech is completely deciduous, but beech saplings retain most of their leaves through the winter, albeit brown and dead ones. So if you are to see some flowers, put away the shears. On the other hand, you may not have clipped your hedge at all yet and it may be a bit too young to flower. You may see some flowers this spring, if this is the case, but it is a bit early for them. May is when they blossom.

I don't know at what age a hawthorn starts flowering, but, as Felix says, if clipped into hedge it will never flower. Hawthorn (despite its name which derives from Anglo-Saxon haga thorn, meaning hedge or enclosure thorn), is actually a sizable small tree growing to 5 to 10 metres if left unchecked. Its use as hedging involved growing individual plants tall and then laying and binding them into an impenetrable barrier.

Ok thank you, that makes sense. I have been snipping away at it, will try to leave it alone this year

Hi Sarah,
I planted some three year old bare root Hawthorn last year (actually autumn 2010) and cut the top growth back to allow them to bush-out
and there are signs that they will flower this year. Not masses of blossom just the odd group of flowers. I suspect that these plants are probably in their fifth year after sowing. Hawthorn plants are all grown from seed as they do not make viable cuttings.
JB.