Q: We were planning on using a native hawthorn as a boundary hedge around our country garden. But a friend has warned us off it, saying that there’s a disease spreading throughout Europe that’s killing hawthorn trees and hedges. Should we use something else instead? Kate H, Co Wicklow
A: Your friend is correct in that some hawthorn plants (Crataegus monogyna, or whitethorn as it’s also commonly known) in parts of Europe are being struck down with a very destructive, contagious, notifiable bacterial disease known as fire blight (Erwinia amylovora) that also affects other members of the very large Rosaceae family including apple, pear, cotoneaster, photinia, medlar, quince and rowan. Sadly, there’s no cure for it, the only recommended solution being to destroy all affected plants as well as any potential host plants in the close vicinity.
Fire blight is not a new disease, having spread to Europe from North America in the 1950s. But up until a few years ago there were very rigorous and careful checks in place to stop its spread through Europe. Unfortunately, those biosecurity checks are no longer as strict and there is now a much greater risk of infected plants being unwittingly imported into Ireland and spreading it.
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There have been 17 cases confirmed in Ireland in 2023 including in urban areas, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the countless kilometres of native hawthorn hedges that are such a defining and integral element of the Irish landscape as well as for the free-standing “sceachs” or fairy trees nurtured for generations.
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In what can only be described as a bitter irony, that risk to the Irish rural landscape as well as to Irish gardens has been amplified because of the greatly increased demand for hawthorn plants fuelled by agri-environment schemes, some (not all) of which no longer require those same hawthorn plants to be sourced in Ireland because of the shortage of Irish-grown stock. To put that in context, according to the website of the national, non-government organisation Hedgerows Ireland that campaigns for the protection of Irish hedgerows, about €132.5 million has been paid in funding via schemes such as ACRES, REPS, AEOS and GLAS to plant farm hedgerows, most of them hawthorn.
In conclusion, as unimaginable as it seems, there is a real risk that our native hawthorn may slowly fall victim to disease in the same way that other native species such as ash and elm have before it. Given this, it’s hard to know what to say to you as regards your commendable desire to plant it as a hedge. Just a few years ago I would have said wholeheartedly that this wonderfully resilient, versatile, decorative, adaptable, wildlife-friendly species (our equivalent of the Mediterranean’s olive tree) should be the backbone of any Irish country garden. Now I can only say that with reservation.
