Tree ID needed

[Pipa]

this self seeded itself in the ground beside my washing pole, well i can only assume the birds dropped some seed there or some seed blew there , does anyone know what it is


it is only small at the moment, about 1 foot high,(but it hasnt been growing long) it has rather large/long thorns on the branches aswell close to the leaves, defo looks like a tree of some sort though, anyone know what it is, i was going to dig it up and put it in a pot it can't stay where it is so i want to transplant it before it gets too big

[Wild-Woman]

A species of hawthorn perhaps.

[Dorts]

I agree, Hawthorn, could be one of our two native Crataegus, or just as likely one of those foreign 'Quickthorns' that the councils plant everywhere.
Dorts.

[Pipa]

oo thanks all, will google hawthorns a bit and see what i can find out about it

[Wild-Woman]

If it is one of our native hawthorns, value it. Fantastic for a huge range of insects.

[King Edward]

If you can leave it for the time being, you'd probably be best moving it in the winter after it goes dormant. That way the roots have time to establish before the leaves start growing again next the spring.

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

If it is one of our native hawthorns, value it. Fantastic for a huge range of insects.

Oo, will do that, i feed the birds all the time so anything that will provide some natural food for them will be great to keep, plus i enjoy watching insects too so best of both does it get any berries on it do you know? :-)

i have zero knowledge of hawthorn lol

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by King Edward

If you can leave it for the time being, you'd probably be best moving it in the winter after it goes dormant. That way the roots have time to establish before the leaves start growing again next the spring.

certainly can, its right up against my metal washing pole so it might be hard for me to get a good root ball on it, im not sure how far down that pole goes in the ground, its been there for over 30 years and never wobbles so i guess it goes down far, :P but as it just started growing this year and is only about 1 foot high atm it should only have a small root system so i'll do my best to get it out safely, i will wait until it's dropped all its leaves in the autum/winter and move it into a pot for the time being, then decide where it can go in the ground once it gets bigger

do you know how big it will get? will it do well in a pot or better in the ground? also, will it survive outside in the winter or should i move it into the greenhouse.. im guessing it will survive since it germinated and grew all by itself outside, should be hardy by the winter

[King Edward]

It's perfectly hardy, best left outside all year. These are often used for hedging (being very thorny, for one thing), or will grow into a fairly small tree. Should produce lots of flowers and berries once it's older. You could pot it up, or alternatively you have all summer to think about where to put it permanently.

[Pipa]

Originally Posted by King Edward

It's perfectly hardy, best left outside all year. These are often used for hedging (being very thorny, for one thing), or will grow into a fairly small tree. Should produce lots of flowers and berries once it's older. You could pot it up, or alternatively you have all summer to think about where to put it permanently.

i think i'll pot it up when the time comes, i have quite a large garden but no spaces free right now that will accomodate it, i mean, the size it is now, i could find some ground space for it, but im thinking long term when it grows big i dont want to have to keep disrupting its root system

i looked around my neighbourhood and i spotted a very large hawthorn growing up beside our local churchyard so im thinking it *might* have come from there somehow, its leaves dont quite look the same though, i will know for sure when it flowers, the one beside the church gets white flowers on it, so we shall see

it is growing pretty fast, i can see a difference in its growth already since i took the pic