Hedging or tree
How to grow a hawthorn hedge
Crataegus monogyna
Hawthorn grows in almost any soil and any exposure, which is why it is the backbone of British field hedges. Plant bare-root whips between November and March and cut them back hard straight away so they branch from the base. Trim in January or February, every second or third year if you want the May blossom and autumn haws, and do not feed it once established.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Sun to part shade
- Soil
- Most soils; tough
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.5
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting a hawthorn hedge
WhenPlant bare-root Nov to Mar; flowers May; haws Sep to Nov; cut Jan to Feb
Starting off
Plant bare-root whips Nov to Mar, by far the cheapest way to make a native hedge; mix in blackthorn, hazel, field maple and dog rose for wildlife. Propagate from haws collected Oct, sown outdoors in Nov after the flesh is removed; they germinate in the second spring.
Spacing and planting
As a tree C. monogyna reaches 6 to 10 m by 8 m; a hedge is held at 1.5 to 3 m tall and 1 m thick, laid or clipped. Plant bare-root whips 40 to 60 cm tall at 30 cm apart in a single row (3 per metre) or, for a stock-proof hedge, 45 cm apart in a staggered double row 30 to 40 cm apart (6 per metre), cutting them back to 15 cm after planting. Keep trees 8 m from drains and buildings on clay. Not a container plant.
Varieties worth growing
- Common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
- The native hedging thorn: white blossom in May, red haws from September, dense and stock-proof. The cheapest hedge there is.
- C. laevigata 'Paul's Scarlet'
- Small garden tree to about 6 m with double deep-pink flowers. Sets few haws, so choose it for blossom.
- C. laevigata 'Crimson Cloud'
- Single red flowers with a white eye, and a good crop of haws for the birds, on a tree of 5 to 6 m.
- C. persimilis 'Prunifolia'
- Broad-leaved cockspur thorn: glossy leaves, long-lasting fruit and the best orange and red autumn colour of any thorn. A compact tree for a small garden.
- C. monogyna 'Stricta'
- Upright, narrow form of the common hawthorn for a tight space or an exposed site.
A hawthorn hedge month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Trim or lay hedges while dormant. Plant bare-root whips in open weather.
- February
Finish trimming before the end of the month, ahead of nesting. Plant.
- March
Last planting. Mulch new hedges; a light feed for those in their first two years.
- April
Leaves open. Weed the hedge line. No cutting: birds are nesting.
- May
Blossom. Water whips planted last winter if it turns dry.
- June
Watch for webbing caterpillars and fireblight. Keep new hedges weeded.
- July
Nothing to do beyond watering first-year hedges in drought.
- August
Nothing to do. Leave the developing haws.
- September
Haws ripen. Formal garden hedges can have a tidy once nesting has finished.
- October
Collect haws for sowing. Order whips for winter planting.
- November
Planting season opens: plant, then cut every whip back to 15 cm. Sow cleaned haws outdoors.
- December
Lay or coppice gappy old hedges. Plant in mild spells.
Feeding a hawthorn hedge
A tough native that needs almost no feeding. Give new whips a mulch and at most a light seaweed meal for two springs; feeding an established hawthorn only pushes leaf at the expense of blossom.
Low, a tough native; little feeding needed.
Feeding plan
At planting, November to March
Optional but worthwhile on poor or newly cleared ground. The label rate is 5 g per litre of root volume; a whip carries roughly half a litre of root, so 2.5 g per whip, about 8 g per metre at 3 whips per metre, dusted onto damp roots.
March, years 1 and 2
50 g per metre run: the low end of the label's 50 to 100 g/m², over a strip 1 m wide along the hedge. Once each spring.
March, years 1 and 2
Garden compost
A 5 cm mulch, or a strip of bark, to hold moisture and keep grass away from the stems. Weed control does more for a new thorn hedge than any feed.
Year 3 onwards
Nothing
No fertiliser. If a farm or lawn feed drifts onto the hedge and it stops flowering, that is the cause.
Signs to watch
Lush leafy growth and little blossom → excess nitrogen from fertiliser drift, or annual trimming removing the flowering wood → no feeding, trim every 2 to 3 years. Older leaves yellow between the veins in Aug on sand → magnesium short → Epsom salts drench, rarely necessary. Orange-red leaf tints in Sep are normal autumn colour; the same in Jun with stunted shoots → drought or root damage, not a defic
Pests, diseases and problems
Blossom and shoot tips wilt and turn brown as if scorched, with dead leaves hanging on the branch
Fireblight, a bacterial disease of the rose family that enters through the flowers in warm wet weather
Cut affected branches out at least 30 cm below the brown wood, 60 cm on larger limbs, wiping the blades with disinfectant between cuts. Burn or bin the prunings.
Small dark spots on the leaves from June, leaves yellowing and falling by August
Hawthorn leaf spot, a fungus favoured by wet summers
Tolerate it on a hedge. The plant releafs normally the following spring. Raking up fallen leaves under a specimen tree reduces the carry-over.
White powdery coating on young leaves and shoot tips, which twist and stay small
Powdery mildew, commonest on closely trimmed hedges and in dry summers
Trimming removes most of it. Water young hedges in drought and do not feed with nitrogen.
Silk webbing over the shoots in May and June with caterpillars stripping the leaves inside it
Web-forming moth caterpillars such as small ermine, hawthorn webber and lackey moth
Leave it or prune out the webbed shoots. The hedge looks dreadful for a month and then releafs fully.
Orange, swollen patches on shoots, leaves and haws in early summer
Hawthorn rust, a fungus that spends the other half of its life on juniper
Cut out the swollen shoots. It rarely does lasting harm.
Pruning
Pruning and care
Cut in Jan to Feb, outside the bird-nesting season (Mar to Aug, when it is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act to damage or destroy an active nest), with shears or a flail, tapering the sides; trimming every 2 to 3 years rather than annually gives more blossom and haws, since it flowers on 2-year-old wood. A gappy old hedge is renovated by laying in Dec to Feb or by coppicing to 10 cm, after which it regrows 1 m in a year. Tr
Good to knowA superb wildlife and stock-proof hedge (blossom, then haws); cut in winter.
Growing a hawthorn hedge in pots
Hawthorn is not a container plant. It is deep-rooted, thorny and at its best as a hedge or a small tree in open ground; in a pot it makes a thin, unhappy shrub that flowers poorly. For a native in a large tub, a crab apple on a dwarfing rootstock is a better bet.
A hawthorn hedge: common questions
When can I cut a hawthorn hedge?
Cut hawthorn in January or February, while it is dormant and before birds start nesting. Avoid cutting between March and August, when it is an offence to damage an active nest. A formal garden hedge can be tidied in September, at the cost of some haws.
Why does my hawthorn hedge not flower?
Because it is trimmed every year. Hawthorn flowers on wood that is at least two years old, so an annual cut removes the flowering shoots. Trim every second or third year, or cut one side each year, and the blossom returns.
How fast does a hawthorn hedge grow?
About 40 to 60 cm a year once established. Whips cut back to 15 cm at planting make a dense 1.5 m hedge in four to five years, which is faster than leaving them uncut and waiting for the gaps at the base to fill.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.
- How to grow hawthornRHS
- FireblightRHS
- Hedgerow management rules: cutting and trimmingGOV.UK (Rural Payments Agency)
- Pruning hedgesRHS