Hi! If you want to grow the common hawthorn I believe it is quite slow growing but can get quite large and as it is quite spiny (used as fencing to keep animals in) you might prefer to grow a smaller specimen such as the Yeddo hawthorn (check out at: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=1598) I am spoiled because living in the countryside we are surrounded by all sorts of native hedging but if you don't have any around you then it's good to grow hawthorn as it provides much needed winter food for birds and the small birds like the protection it offers from the larger predators :-)

Hi Mary, these can grow very big so it depends really where you are going to plant it in your garden. You can of course keep it trimmed to a manageable size but I would also take into account what other plants you are growing around it as it may eventually provide lots of shade and hence effect other plants and their performance. I have a small garden and have some largish shrubs etc so on another note small gardens dont necessarily mean small plants.

Hawthorn is slow growing and used in hedges. Therefore you can plant it anywhere as long as you prune it. I tend to think of them as smallish bushes.

Hi K. I've noticed that the ones that are kept trimmed as hedging don't flower as much as the large species growing naturally so perhaps keeping them small might solve one issue but result in a less interesting plant and I'm guessing from the question that a tree is wanted, rather than a hedge. But that's just my personal take on this, not getting into any major debates here LOL :-D

There is no reason why you couldn't plant one in your garden, To keep it as a tree, remove the lower branches as they grow. But bearing in mind the birds will help distribute it round yours and neighbouring gardens, by the seeds. But these are easily removed. You could plant a Cratageous laevigata 'Pauls scarlet'. it is better behaved than the common variety seen in hedgerows, but also used commonly in Garden designs. Avoid the double it is less beneficial to insects.

Hi Julie, I meant that the Hawthorn could be kept manageable be pruning. There is no reason to let it grow 20ft tall and 8 ft wide, though that will take time. They are lovely small trees and as Gardenersworld said on Friday, if they were an oriental tree we would all want one in the garden with their lovely flowers. IMHO they can be planted in a small garden.

I have a 90' x 30' garden as well and there is a hawthorne hedge over the bottom fence. They were originally trees, about 18', but were rather spindly. I had them reduced in height, by the owner, to about 7'. They now make a proper dense hedge and give nesting birds more protection. They do grow a lot of seedlings in the garden.

We have a red double flowered Hawthorn in our 40 by 50 feet garden. It has other shrubs and a Rowan nearbye. Yes, after 20 odd years it is large. It can be tamed with an extending pruner. It doesn't stop trees or shrubs growing nearbye, but they stay smaller than they would be. All the birds use it. The bird feeders hang in it. It is on a boundary with sheltered housing gardens. On occasions the contract gardeners there have cut it back....we don't mind this. If it is over a path as our tree is you may get some root heave. Leaf fall, flower fall, berry fall. You will be a 'brush it up expert'. If you are a controlly gardener you can drastically curtail it, and it will grow back. Just think out where it will not annoy any neighbour or shade things too much....good luck.