In April, the parsley hawthorn blooms and we see its delicate white flowers with scarlet anthers. They attract bees and small flies, the hawthorn’s primary pollinators, resulting in bright red fruit, or haws.
This tree is a host plant for 110 species of lepidoptera. Millions of years ago, the hawthorns protected themselves from being eaten by ground sloths and mastodons by growing thorns.
Today these thorns and the parsley hawthorn’s dense structure make it a welcome nesting site for birds, who will also eat the haws throughout the winter. A parsley hawthorn in your yard will provide you with beauty, and animals with much-needed food.