Indian Hawthorn is one of the most popular landscape shrubs around. This dense evergreen makes a great hedge or foundation plant. It is hardy in zones 7-10. It will tolerate almost any garden soil (clay, loam, sand) as long as it is mildly acidic and not bone dry or constantly wet. Summer flowers are pink or white, and are followed by attractive clusters of small, deep blue or purple fruits. Pollinators love the flowers and birds flock to the berries.
Plants naturally form rounded mounds. Mature height is up to 6 feet, so place it where it will not need constant pruning to fit into a small space. A few cultivars are larger, and can gain heights to 12 feet. When pruned severely, shrubs look like piles of sticks for several weeks. Installation or transplanting should be done in fall or winter. Hawthorns struggle when moved in hot weather. Grow in full sun in cooler zones, partial shade in warmer areas. New growth is bronze-green and is subject to damage by late cold snaps.
If Indian Hawthorn (Rhaphiolepis indica, pronounced raf-ee-oh-LEP-iss IN-dih-kuh) is healthy, it is beautiful. Unfortunately, its popularity has led to major overplanting. Place too many of any single type of plant in an area (think city-size, not your yard), and diseases and insects move in and create havoc. (Remember the Red Tip Photinia rage of several decades ago? They were planted in every neighborhood. Then a fungal leaf spot moved in, spread like mad, and bye-bye Red Tip hedges.) The cultivars ‘Eleanor Tabor,’ and ‘Snow White,’ are more disease-resistant than some. Soaker hoses or drip irrigation are preferable to overhead watering, since they keep foliage dry to discourage leaf spots.
Because Indian Hawthorn is a sturdy shrub, it is planted near parking areas and in shopping center medians. Full sun, excess heat, and insufficient irrigation lead to weakened plants that eventually fall prone to several insects and diseases, resulting in defoliation. In home landscape situations, Indian Hawthorns are frequently eaten by deer.
A close view of the lovely flowers of Indian Hawthorn. Note the beginning of leaf spot disease, left side.
This healthy hedge of Indian Hawthorn lives in a parking lot island of a big box store in upstate South Carolina.
A sad-looking hedge showing leaf loss.