Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Weather watching Jan 2014 Snow, 3 by ViburnumValley

ViburnumValley wrote:
Mipii:

Yes.

typwc:

Watering the foliage is not the issue. Your picture shows this tree in lawn (which is a steady source of atmospheric moisture), which isn't the same as a tree surrounded by pavement (which is not). That's the point I was making. There is likely also the issue of free air movement on downtown sidewalks and retail parking lots, which may be better for avoiding foliar problems. I think the answer is location, location, location.

The organism that causes rust on hawthorns is pretty much ubiquitous and indigenous in the eastern US. So, whether your plant had some with it or not, it is going to be around. I'm pretty sure that it is one of those "needs two hosts in order to complete its lifecycle" problems, too - Cedar-Hawthorn Rust. Reading up on that will describe how it infects/affects plants, and what to do so that you best avoid or defeat it - should you choose to do battle.

I absolutely refuse to go toe-to-toe with you on "Who's Humidest?" I've lived my whole life here in HHH land - and that's not Hubert H. Humphrey. Hazy, Hot, and Humid have been topics of body art here. I've also been to Havre de Grace in July. I think I'd rather be here, and suck it up. 105ºF at the shoreline is not believable.

For those that don't know the story: Crataegus viridis 'Winter King' was discovered, selected, named, and introduced to cultivation in 1955 by the late Mr. Robert Simpson of Vincennes, IN (who also brought you Ilex verticillata 'Winter Red' and a host of other fine garden plants). Native to the Ohio River valley region that Bob knew so well, 'Winter King' possessed superior landscape traits - larger persistent heavy crops of fruit and less susceptibility to cedar-hawthorn rust than the typically available hawthorn species in production.

Here are some champ 'Winter King' Hawthorn trees, doing what they were designed to do.