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If you will pardon the Cockney, Hawthorn is the "cherry hog's flowers" of a hedge plant. Most of the hedges near us (be they hawthorn, beech, whatever) come from us - not surprisingly as Ashridge Nurseries sells over 2 million plants a year of which a large proportion end up in hawthorn hedges across the UK
With the possible exception of yew, no other hedge plant has the dignity and good temper of hawthorn. It is almost unflappable.
Next to our packing shed is what ought to be an abomination of a hedge. Solid hawthorn, planted on a bank of what can only be described politely as "subsoil", weed-infested, unclipped. What you might call neglected or, if it were a small child, abused. And yet here we are on 5th January 2009, and this long-suffering hawthorn hedge is still covered in haws. They were dripping with frost this morning and looked simply stunning as I walked to work. Closer examination showed a few buds are beginning to stir, and I have complete confidence in saying that the seriously hard frost we got last night will have left them as perfect as ever.
Less than a mile away is a small ex-council house (I believe it is now privately owned) whose exquisite small garden is open to the public one day a year in June. In the interests of the Gardeners Benevolent Fund, I am afraid you will need to buy the Yellow Book of Gardens Open to the Public in England & Wales to find out where it is. Anyway, in June, when a Hawthorn hedge is neither in flower nor in full berry, this little garden's boundary hedge is a tight clipped, razor-edged, utterly immaculate thing of beauty. And visitors do a double-take when, on reading the notes to find out what it is, they discover they have been had by a simple old hawthorn hedge.
If you have room, and you have not got one.....
You can start here if you want to buy hawthorn hedge plants.
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Comments (6)
Add a commentHi Jo
You can either plant other deciduous plants into your hawthorn hedging that have some interest at other times of the year (dog rose has hips into November/December), dogwoods have coloured bark all through the winter etc.
Alternatively you could just interplant with holly – we would suggest plain old green holly as the variegated types tend to look a bit brash with hawthorn. Some will be male, some female and you will have leaves, flowers and berries at times when the hawthorn is looking a bit dull.
I think I recognise your email address – did you buy hawthorn whips from us a few years ago? If so it would be great to see how they have grown up….
Best
Julian
Hi
My garden is protected on 2 sides by a very well established Hawthorn hedge. I really enjoy the Hawthorn for 7 months of the year, but do find the bare branches and whips very dull from autumn til spring. is there any evergreen hedging plant that you could recommend for introducing alongside?
Many thanks
Jo
Hi Joanna
Yes you do, but not now.
Let me know if you need any more info.
Good luck
Julian
Hello there – i planted a hawthorn hedge last winter and i have been told i need to cut it back. Do i & if so by how much and when?
thanks
jo
I could not agree more. We have a hawthorn hedge that my dad planted. He took a lot of trouble and four years later it looks fantastic.
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