Washington Hawthorn Berries Poisonous To Dogs – From our farms in Michigan to your property, Washington hawthorn trees add plenty of foliage with green-yellow leaves and distinctive bright bed berries. Cold Stream Farms is a retail and wholesale supplier of Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phenopyrum) with transplant or bare-root seedlings available for purchase.
Washington hawthorn trees are excellent landscape features that provide adequate cover and sustenance for native and migratory animals. Blooming in the spring and fruiting in the fall, Washington hawthorn trees are colorful and functional in all seasons.
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Washington Hawthorn Berries Poisonous To Dogs
Washington hawthorn trees are primarily identified by their green berries, which ripen to deep red in September and October each year. These berries are persistent, clinging to trees through the winter and eventually eaten by grazing birds.
Hawthorn Berries Hi Res Stock Photography And Images
Washington hawthorn flowers are white and bloom in dense clusters each spring. When blooming, the flowers give off a distinct scent, but usually last only a week or so.
On average, Washington hawthorn trees grown in ideal conditions can reach 20 to 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide. Washington hawthorn leaves start out green in summer and turn to varying shades of yellow, orange, and red in fall.
However, these trees are not native to the northwestern state of Washington. Instead, in states such as Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, and Virginia, Washington hawthorn trees are primarily east of the Mississippi River.
In the wild, Washington hawthorn trees grow on open ground as well as open areas of swamps and hillsides. When grown intentionally, a Washington Hawthorn will always need full sun to live a full and healthy life. Under ideal conditions, Washington hawthorn trees prefer moist, well-drained soil.
Benefits Of Hawthorn For Your Dog
Berries grown on Washington hawthorn trees are primarily eaten by waxwings, grouse, sparrows, and other songbirds. Beyond this, the berries can be eaten by squirrels and other small mammals. During its limited season, Washington hawthorn flowers attract nectar and pollen-seeking hummingbirds, butterflies and moths.
It is a very useful tree. Its wood is hard enough to be used in small-scale products for tools, handicrafts and more. Dense logs chopped from Washington hawthorn branches make great, slow-burning firewood with very little smoke.
Washington hawthorn berries are edible and can be safely consumed by humans raw or cooked. The mild-tasting berries can be made into tea, jelly, and other foods, but be aware that they can be poisonous to dogs.
Finally, Washington hawthorn trees are often used to create land borders, with thick thorny trunks that deter deer and other unwanted guests. Plants are often planted and deliberately pruned to define a dense, hedge.
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Unfortunately, Washington hawthorn has a limited range and is best suited to USDA zones 4-8. Although it is possible to grow
Washington hawthorns may be susceptible to pests and diseases such as aphids, mites, and leaf miners. Most troublesome intruders can be washed away with a garden hose, manure, or horticultural oil.
If you plan to purchase Washington hawthorn trees, make sure your planting area receives full sun throughout the day. Despite their hardiness, Washington hawthorns cannot tolerate excessively shady conditions.
Like many hawthorn species, mature Washington hawthorn trees are drought tolerant and capable of surviving in a wide variety of environments. Washington hawthorns are very tolerant of urban pollution and require very little maintenance beyond seasonal hedge trimmings.
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Washington Hawthorns usually need fertilization to reach their maximum potential, but owners should be careful not to overdo it. For mature plants, it is recommended to fertilize every two years.
From a seedling, a Washington hawthorn tree will start flowering about 3 years into its life. From there, within 2-3 years the tree will begin to bear edible fruit.
Washington hawthorns grow very quickly in their first few years, but slow as they mature. Well-kept hawthorns can live for hundreds of years.
Cold Stream Farm supplies Washington Hawthorn trees both retail and wholesale from our home in Free Soil, Michigan. There is no minimum order for Washington hawthorn trees in the United States, increasing shipping costs to Canada, Hawaii, and Alaska. Buy online or contact us today. A couple of weeks ago I looked out my back door at a Washington hawthorn whose fruit had started to fall after a cold snap, and I considered Jan Grover’s comment on this blog in October: “A friend who teaches told me about an abandoned orchard behind her school building, and I went there intending to eat the apples she described—I branched out. Found! There were a couple of tiny, crimson colored cothons that I took a few pounds and brought home and turned into a Kool-Aid-red/pink jelly. . . . The taste is slightly, ummmmm, feral and goes beautifully with autumn braises. Sugar, lemon juice, water—that’s all it takes: full of pectin.
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If I wanted to make have jelly this year, I had to act fast. So I took a garden ladder and sampled a have. The small, orange-red fruit consisted of only fleshy flesh wrapped around five seeds. This is not surprising, because hawthorn is a relative of the rose and medlar. Haves must make good jelly, I thought.
When I picked them, most of the fruit came free from their stems. Within fifteen minutes, I had enough haws to make a small batch of jelly. I washed them, shook them in a strainer to separate the remaining stalks, and took out the stalks before cooking the pigs in enough water.
The juice turned cloudy pink but clarified when I combined it with sugar. I added a lot of lemon juice as I felt the fruit was lacking in acid. The syrup gelled quickly and firmly.
The finished jelly looks like quince jelly—almost clear and bright, in fact, like red currant jelly. You have to keep your nose close to catch the hot and spicy aroma, but the taste blooms in the mouth. It reminds Robert of tropical fruits – passion fruit, or guava. But I think How Jelly puts Guava to shame. In taste, only rosehip jelly compares.
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Put the beans in a pot and barely cover with water (you’ll need about 6 cups). Mash for 20 minutes or so using a potato masher or spoon, uncovered for an hour.
Strain the haw juice through a coarse strainer, then strain through a jelly bag for at least several hours or overnight. Don’t worry if the juice looks cloudy. You should end up with 2¼ cups.
In a preserving pan, combine shallot juice, sugar, and lemon juice. Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture to a boil and stir. Raise the heat to high and boil the syrup until it comes off a spoon or until it reaches 221 degrees F. Pour the hot syrup into two sterilized half-pint jars, and fit the lids and rings. Process the jars in boiling water for 5 minutes.
* Fruits of Washington hawthorn, Crataegus phenopyrum, have three to five seeds; The beaks of other species come in red, yellow, black, or purple, and each fruit has only one seed. C. Phenopyrum is a native of the eastern states and has been widely planted elsewhere in the landscape, I don’t know why; Its thorny branches shoot randomly in every direction. But many other species of hawthorn grow in a similar manner, and are therefore considered the stuff of impenetrable hedges; The word ha means “hedge”. Apart from this genus, there are other advantages: the wood is very hard and therefore useful for making tools, the leaves, flowers and fruits have been used in the treatment of heart diseases since ancient times (recent medical studies prove their effectiveness). Hawthorn species most commonly used in jelly making is C. monogyna, C. from Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia. C. Douglas Hawthorne, alias Douglas, was born here. Next year I will have to try making jelly from the little black Douglas-fir hose. Hawthorn berry harvesting is a new one for me this year. They are sweet and mild if you get them in time, and in years past I have enjoyed them as early as fall. This year, Washington Hawthorn was sweet and mild in late October. But by then, the single-seeded hawthorn had started to rot, so next year I’ll look for mid-October.
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I owe it to Josh Fecteau’s recent hawthorn post that inspired me to try hawthorn berries again. As Josh pointed out, New England has many species of hawthorn, perhaps 50. And, across North America, perhaps a thousand species, according to George