Crataegus monogyna
Common hawthorn
Common names: Single-seed hawthorn, Quickthorn, May
At a glance
- Light
- Partial shade
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −30 °C
- Pruning
- Feb–Mar
- Harvest
- Sep–Oct
- Spacing
- 150 cm, rows 200 cm
- Water need
- Low
- Origin
- Native to Germany
Photo: Ikmo-ned · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
The hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) is a classic hedge shrub that in May is covered with white, slightly bitter‑smelling flower spikes and in autumn bears bright red apple‑like fruits. The powdery fruits can be processed into jelly or fruit purée. Leaves, flowers and fruits are a well‑studied medicinal component of herbal medicine and are listed in pharmacopoeias.
Care instructions
Plant the hawthorn in autumn (October, week 42) in a sunny to partially shaded spot, it is tolerant and city‑climate‑resistant. As a dense, thorny hedge it provides excellent bird protection. Shape it in late winter (February, week 8); it tolerates even heavy pruning without complaint and readily regrows.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestSep–Oct
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
loamy, sandy, well-drained, lime-loving, nutrient-rich
Almost any free-draining garden soil suits it; chalky and deep is ideal, while it dislikes waterlogging and acidic peat soils.
Feeding
Light feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
In spring, before it shoots, work in a little mature compost shallowly or mulch with it; older shrubs almost look after themselves. From midsummer onwards, no more nitrogen-heavy feeding.
Pruning
You hardly need to prune the common hawthorn when it grows freely. Thin it out only every few years in late winter (February to mid-March, week 6 to 11), and remove overly dense or old shoots close to the ground. From March to September, hard cutting back is prohibited by law (nesting-season protection), and after summer the flower buds for the next year are already in place.
Overwintering
The common hawthorn is native and fully hardy. In the Central European lowlands you need no winter protection; established shrubs and hedges come through even hard frosts without problems. Only very young plants in their first winter can be safeguarded against ground frost with a mulch layer of leaves or bark mulch around the root area.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Cuttings
- Layering
You propagate hawthorn most reliably by sowing or layering; cuttings are possible, but succeed less reliably.
Sowing: Harvest the red fruits in autumn and thoroughly clean the stones of flesh. As a cold-stratification seed, hawthorn needs a cold phase of several months. Either sow the fresh seeds directly outdoors in October/November, or store them moistened in sand in the cool for 3 to 5 months and then sow in spring. Expect a long germination time: the seeds often only germinate in the second spring after sowing, occasionally even later. Stratification outdoors (sowing in autumn in a pot and overwintering it outside) is usually the least complicated. Many young plants come from seed that match the wild species.
Layering: In spring or early summer, bend a long, flexible low shoot down to the ground, lightly score the underside and fix the wounded spot in the soil with a wire staple or stone. Cover the spot with soil and let the shoot tip stick out. After about a year (the following autumn), check whether enough roots have formed, then separate the layer from the mother shrub and transplant it. This works well with low-branching specimens and hedge plants.
Cuttings: In experience, cuttings do not always succeed with hawthorn. Expect losses and be patient. In summer (July/August), cut shoots of the current year 10 to 15 cm long, slightly woody. Remove the lower leaves, leave 2 to 3 leaves at the top and halve them to reduce evaporation. Insert the cuttings into a moist sand-and-soil mix and place them in a bright spot without direct sun. Keep the substrate evenly moist. Hardwood cuttings also work in late autumn: insert woody shoots 20 to 30 cm long directly into the open ground; root formation then continues until the next spring.
Note: Grafting is not needed for the wild species; it is only necessary for ornamental forms such as ‘Paul’s Scarlet’ to stay true to variety.
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Some of these explanations were machine-translated.
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