Hawthorn hedge one of summer’s delights

THERE’S always something magical about that week in the middle of May when the hawthorn starts to blossom.

It’s a countryside event with great significance for people and for wildlife. The days will get longer and brighter, the weather should improve, the best is still to come.

This is particularly obvious if you live, as I do, in a part of the country where the under-lying rock is limestone. Hawthorn is not that particular about where it grows but it thrives best, and produces the most spectacular show of blossom, in soil with plenty of lime. May blossom is normally chalk white but sometimes you’ll come across a tree or bush with a hint of pink. This pinkness tends to deepen towards the end of the flowering season. These trees are natural variants or ‘sports’. But the deep pink specimens you sometimes see are cultivated varieties derived from the natural sports.