[Magdalen] Plant for Dr. Strang

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/23/2016 5:51:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
michaudme at gmail.com writes:

We have  some battered hawthorns and the starlings really get after them
once the  berries have been  frozen.
-M>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
 
Not to mention hawthorns batterling humans!
 
In the Midwest USA, I had a Cockspur Hawthorne (Crataegus  crus-galli)
heavily armed with what are reputed to be the longest thorns of any of  the
many hawthorne species.  The thorns on my specimen, at one of the  corners
of the house there, averaged 2" in length.  The location made it  imperative
that pruning be done annually, or this would quickly be a small tree  and
not a shrub.  The pruning was tantamount to entering the mouth of a  shark,
and I had to proceed with due caution.
 
The reward was a spring flowering tree with a horizontal habit, and  dark
green, tough shiny leaves with good red-orange autumn coloration.
 
My brother, Jim, had a number of another species (Washington  hawthornes)
that he always referred to by the other common name, "thornapple."
 
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crataegus
 
 
 
David Strang.