The English Hawthorn (Rotdorn) is a real showstopper, but it definitely needs its personal space in the garden. To keep it looking its best and prevent it from getting too unruly, you’ll want to give it a good trim every year. The great news is that these trees are incredibly hardy and handle pruning like a champ—even if you need to be a bit aggressive with the shears every now and then.
Pruning Your English Hawthorn
Ideally, you should prune your Hawthorn once a year. This keeps the growth habit tight and tidy while encouraging a massive flush of flowers for the following season. Here’s the trick: Hawthorns start setting their buds for next year on two-year-old wood right after they finish blooming. To make sure you don’t lose those gorgeous crimson flowers, aim to prune in July as soon as the blossoms fade. If you wait too long, you’ll accidentally snip off next year’s flower buds, leaving you with a green but bloom-less tree.
What Kind of Cut Does Your Tree Need?
Depending on the look you’re going for, there are a few different ways to approach pruning:
- Topiary/Formative Pruning: Use this if you want a specific shape that isn’t natural to the tree, like a perfect globe or a pyramid.
- Maintenance Pruning: This is all about keeping the natural shape. Just trim back overly long shoots, water sprouts, and those weak, leggy stems.
- Thinning Out: This involves removing branches that are growing too close together, crossing inward, or any deadwood that’s cluttering up the center.
- Hard Pruning: Sometimes you have to get radical—especially if you’re dealing with pests or disease. Hawthorns can handle being cut back into old wood if necessary.
Just a heads-up: heavy pruning or shaping usually comes at the expense of flowers. While the tree will survive a “tough love” haircut, don’t expect a full floral display the following spring.
Trimming a Hawthorn Hedge
English Hawthorns make fantastic hedges. If you’re growing yours this way, prune it immediately after flowering. To get that perfectly level top, I recommend stretching a string line across the length of the hedge as a guide. Pro tip: If you keep your hedge around three or four feet high, maintenance is a breeze because you won’t need to lug out a ladder every time it needs a trim.
Safety First: Tips for a Smooth Pruning Session
Before you head out with your shears, grab a pair of heavy-duty leather work gloves—the kind with long cuffs are best. Hawthorns aren’t just named for their beauty; those thorns are sharp and can cause a nasty puncture. Safety glasses are also a must to keep stray twigs out of your eyes. Once you’re done, make sure to rake up every single fallen branch so kids or pets running around barefoot don’t get a painful surprise.
Always use sharp, clean tools. I like to disinfect my blades before moving between plants to make sure I’m not spreading any garden diseases.
Do You Really *Have* to Prune?
If you have a massive yard and plenty of room, you can certainly let your Hawthorn grow wild. As long as it gets plenty of sun, it will bloom beautifully every year. However, without a little guidance, these trees can get pretty “leggy” and messy-looking. Since a healthy Hawthorn can put on over two feet of growth in a single year, I’d suggest at least a light maintenance prune annually to keep it from taking over your entire garden.
