Cockspur Hawthorn

It is a pretty, ornamental tree native to eastern North America that spreads very wide like many hawthorns and it is best to give it lots...Read More of room. The small, shiny, dark green foliage is handsome and does not really get Cedar Rust Disease as is common among many American species. The white flowers in May are nice as are the red berries in late summer to January, but they are not an outstanding display. Birds and small mammals like the fruit. It gets a good orange or red fall color. It has very large, long thorns that are nasty, though they give a nice winter texture. There is a thornless variety that is C. crus-galli inermis. For a long time, it has been the second most sold hawthorn from nurseries in the Midwest and East, after the Washington Hawthorn, though the Winter King Green Hawthorn is being planted a lot by landscape architects and designers and is passing these two.

I've come to appreciate this native tremendously. I wouldn't recommend deliberately planting Cockspur hawthorn for a barrier, though, unl...Read Moreess it were rogue buffalo instead of nuisance children being kept out. The thorns are lethal--long, very stiff and straight, and very sharp. It's naturally low branching--to the ground, and planting it thus just could be considered creating a dangerous condition (something insurance companies hate and claimant attorneys love).

That said, there is a thornless selection available, and I keep the species on my property--and family, friends, and trespassers safe--by the simple means of limbing it up safely overhead.

But to why I like Cockspur hawthorn so much:
It's deciduous, but here in my Georgia garden it's the very last tree to lose its leaves and the very earliest to green up in spring, making it a pretty background for the spring garden and also for extending the gardening year into autumn. The leaves are glossy and attractive. (I've read about the various disease problems that go with it being a hawthorn, but they haven't been a problem yet.)
Its own white flowers are pretty and precede the leaves in earliest spring.
Tthe leaves turn orange before falling.
It's extremely tough and *drought tolerant* and can take a variety of conditions.
It has red berries and is a very good tree for bird food and shelter.
It's horizontal branching pattern is interesting in itself.

I highly recommend it as long as it's kept "high."

Rarer in the garden than its non thorn variety.

This is a flat topped tree with a stratified branching habit and 3-inch spines. Tolerance to shearing makes this an excellent barrier pla...Read Morent. The white, half inch flowers are present in May or June. The red fruit stay into winter and follow the orange to red fall color display. Grows to 25ft with a 30ft spread