Tree or shrubtree ornamentalStraightforward

Hawthorn

Crataegus monogyna

The hedgerow tree of lowland Britain, and by a wide margin the most valuable single woody plant for garden wildlife — heavily worked blossom in May, haws the birds strip in autumn, and dense thorny cover that small birds nest in. Makes a stock-proof hedge or a small round-headed tree.

Position: Full sun or Partial shade
Water: low demand
Drainage: Moisture-retentive, Free-draining
Grows to: 400–1000 cm × 400–800 cm
Hardiness: H7
Harvest: September and October
Difficulty: Straightforward

August

Prune

Coming next month: harvest.

Hawthorn’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

Activity	J	F	M	M	A	S	O	N	D
Plant	January.	February.	March.					November.	December.
In flower				May.
Harvest						September.	October.
Prune	January.				August.	September.	October.	November.	December.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light: Full sun, Partial shade
Frost: Very hardy
Hardiness rating: H7 (RHS)
Grows best at: 6–26 °C
Soil: Clay, Loam, Chalky, Sandy
Soil pH: 5.5–8
Drainage: Moisture-retentive, Free-draining
Water needs: low
Drought: good tolerance
Waterlogging: moderate tolerance
Heat: good tolerance
Wind and exposure: good tolerance

Where these figures come from

LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hawthorn — position
Checked 2026-08-13
FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hawthorn — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings
Checked 2026-08-13
Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hawthorn — temperature
Checked 2026-08-13
SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hawthorn — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Crataegus monogyna — culture
Checked 2026-08-13
DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hawthorn — soil
Checked 2026-08-13
Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

Soil	Verdict	Why
Heavy clay	Works, with one condition	Hawthorn will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Sandy	Prefers this soil	Sandy suits Hawthorn as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 5.5 to 8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Sandy soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkaline	Prefers this soil	Chalky and alkaline suits Hawthorn as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Chalky soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Loam	Prefers this soil	Loam suits Hawthorn as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 5.5 to 8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Silty	Prefers this soil	Silty suits Hawthorn as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 5.5 to 8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acid	Works, with one condition	Hawthorn will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rock	Prefers this soil	Shallow over rock suits Hawthorn as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soil	Works, with one condition	Hawthorn will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height: 400–1000 cm
Mature spread: 400–800 cm
Rooting depth: 120 cm
Spacing: 30–500 cm apart

Where these figures come from

Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hawthorn — spacing
Checked 2026-08-13

Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

Habit and ultimate size

What the plant becomes, rather than what it is when you buy it. The gap between the two is where most planting mistakes live.

Foliage: Deciduous
In a container: Not a realistic container plant

Where these figures come from

FoliageSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — foliage
Checked 2026-08-13
In a containerHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence: No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13

Growth rate: Moderate — roughly 30–60 cm a year
Ultimate height: 400–1000 cm
Ultimate spread: 400–800 cm
Time to reach it: 20–30 yearsSourced guidance

Where these figures come from

Growth rateSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — growth rate
Checked 2026-08-13
Ultimate heightSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — ultimate height
Checked 2026-08-13
Ultimate spreadSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — ultimate spread
Checked 2026-08-13
Time to reach itSourced guidancelow confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — time to ultimate size
Checked 2026-08-13

Cutting it back. Takes hard cutting and regenerates completely, which is why it can be laid as a hedge — a technique that involves half-severing living stems and bending them over, and which nothing intolerant of damage would survive.

source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Value to wildlife

Recorded only where the evidence names a resource and the months it is available. Most plants flower; that on its own is not what this section is about.

Nectar: A significant source
Pollen: A significant source
Berries for birds: A significant source
In flower: May
In fruit: Sep, Oct, Nov

Where these figures come from

NectarSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — value to pollinators
Checked 2026-08-13
PollenSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — value to pollinators
Checked 2026-08-13
Berries for birdsSourced guidancemoderate confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus monogyna — fruit and birds
Checked 2026-08-13

Shelter. Dense thorny growth that small birds nest in readily, and one of the most-used nesting shrubs in lowland Britain.

source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

What keeping this costs

Cut a hawthorn hedge between late summer and midwinter. An annual clip in spring removes the blossom and then the haws, and trimming between March and August risks destroying an active nest — which is both a legal matter and the loss of the thing the hedge was planted for. A two-year rotation leaves far more of both.

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

Method	Suitability	What it needs
Open ground	Well suited source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Traditional dug bed	Workable source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13
Raised bed	Marginal source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13	A raised bed rarely holds enough soil volume for a tree beyond its first few years.
Container	Marginal source Sourced guidancemoderate confidence Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

PruningCut a hedge between late summer and midwinter. Trimming between March and August risks destroying an active nest, which is both a legal matter and the reason a hawthorn hedge is worth having in the first place. Cutting on a two-year rotation leaves far more blossom and fruit than an annual clip.
PlantingFor a hedge, plant bare-root whips in a staggered double row and cut them down hard after the first season. The instinct to leave a new hedge alone produces a thin, gappy one; the hard early cut is what makes it thicken at the base.

Where this guidance comes from

PruningSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hedge cutting and wildlife
Checked 2026-08-13
PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence: Royal Horticultural Society: Hedges — planting
Checked 2026-08-13

The bud you cut to becomes the new shoot, and it grows in the direction it points — which is why an outward-facing bud opens the plant up and an inward-facing one crosses the middle.

Safety and edibility

Contact hazardchildren
The thorns are long, hard and sharp enough to go through a glove, and hawthorn scratches have a reputation for becoming inflamed out of proportion to their size.
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Crataegus — thorns
Checked 2026-08-13
Wear gauntlets when laying or cutting it, and clean scratches rather than ignoring them.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.