This is why you plant a hawthorn: these clusters of vivid red berries brighten up the gray winter landscape and they attract birds. This cultivar is probably the Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) which has dominated the American market for some time. Still, there are other small trees which might be better for the yard.
Why you should not choose a hawthorn:
- There are those thorns which can be up to 2″ in length (see below). This tree’s habit is somewhat rangy and unkempt, but the thorns turn pruning into a painful ordeal.
- Hawthorns are also vulnerable to a slew of diseases: apple scab, leaf spot, and the cedar-rust diseases. Some experts suggest a regular spraying program but who wants to bother with that?
- And those clusters of creamy white flowers in the spring? They stink. There’s a hawthorn along the path on Blackstone Boulevard that will stop you in your tracks. “What is that?” Very unpleasant.
In short, there are many more worthy flowering trees and shrubs for your yard, plants that look good in all seasons and don’t stab you. Many crabapple varieties have bright red fruits, as do the viburnums. Kousa dogwoods also have large red fruits. Go to a nursery or garden center and look around and ask for recommendations. (They will be open at some point.)
As to the edibility of the hawthorn berries, most sources describe some version of this at Eat the Planet:
Hawthorn fruit is edible and delicious. The seeds are likely about as poisonous as apple seeds . . . I usually take a mouthful of hawthorn fruit and spit out the seeds.
***************************
