Those who have a hawthorn hedge will know that you can have a difficult relationship with it but that ultimately it can be very rewarding. In this sense it resembles a dominant labrador. Everywhere at the moment single hawthorns are in glorious bloom livening the countryside with splashes of white that prevent the greenness becoming cloying.
My hawthorn hedge was once 15 feet tall. I got it down closer to size slowly year on year until it is now more or less manageable. You know that you're winning when you can go out to trim it in May and find that the flowers are inside the hedge below the line of the cut. Even so like most thorny trees it needs treating with respect.
Some people may not be aware that surprisingly it can also be a great climbing tree. An old specimen like this one will have its thorns mostly well to the outside and the natural twisting growth throws out branches at suitable angles.
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