Hawthorn: Truth & Legend

September, 2020 ​

My garden is surrounded on two sides by a dense hawthorn hedge about eight feet high. It's virtually impenetrable and its vicious thorns further deter intrusion and are an aid to garden security. A member of the rose family, hawthorn or crataegus, if planted alone, can grow into a small tree with many-fissured, twisty dark-grey trunks sometimes found in parks or pavements, especially in its more unusual deep pink form. My hedge, bare and black in winter but quickening to green early in spring, smothers itself in foamy white 'may' blossoms that since pagan times have been used in marriage ceremonies and associated with the spring-goddess Blodeuwedd. It is she who is represented by the blossom-bearing May-Queen at Mayday festivities while the May King also wears leaves and flowers on his costume. On Old Midsummer’s Day, 5th July, trees were blessed and adorned with flowers and red ribbons before children danced around them in a ceremony called ‘bawming the tree’.

In the 1500s, three hawthorn trees grew on Glastonbury Hill in Somerset, unusual in that they flowered twice, once at Easter and again at Christmas. This gave rise to their association with Christianity. There is a descendent of those trees in St. John’s churchyard from which, each Christmas, a spray of buds is sent to the Queen, in a tradition going back to the 1700s. I guess she’s not overly worried by superstition, but when I was a child, we were forbidden to bring may-blossom into the house as it would ‘bring bad luck’. Personally I think it is to do with the unpleasant scent (that research shows contains trimethylamine) which is formed when flesh decays, and is perhaps reminiscent of long-gone days when corpses were laid out for a week in the front parlour! However, in my garden all is well, for Hawthorn is also considered to be a faerie tree known as a psychic shield that can lift the spirits. No wonder then that I love being outside at all times of the year, though methinks those little faerie folk try to get their own back when I trim their magical tree by stabbing at me with their sharp black thorns!

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Used for centuries in folk healing for ailments associated with blood pressure, modern science shows that Hawthorn contains several chemical components which contribute to it being known as ‘Valerian of the heart’.

Also known as the 'bread and cheese' plant, young leaves can be eaten and jelly and wine can be made from its lovely red haws.

Iris

February 2023

Painting of a blue iris plant by Granny Bonnet

One of my most favourite flowers is the Iris. From early clumps of Iris sylvatica that can expand into great swathes of blue or purple carpeting, to stately flag irises that rise out of the border in so many different guises. The most well-known border variety is Iris germanica, sometimes known as bearded iris, whose flowers come in all colours, often with elaborate ruffles. I'm particularly fond of one that goes by the name of Rajah which was given to me by a long-dead friend and which I have managed to keep going for many years. Its main petals are a soft bronze colour and its middle is yellow, not particularly showy by today’s standards, but it has a heavenly scent.

Not so another of my garden companions that chooses to stay rather more hidden in the light shadow of a Cedrus Deodar and which definitely does not have an attractive perfume!

Iris Feotidissima—stinking iris. Image credit: Patrick Roper

​The flowers are fairly insignificant pale yellow with a touch of mauve and are veined with darker lines. While they can be easily overlooked at the time of flowering, at the other end of the season it’s a different story as the large seed-pods burst open to revel glorious flaming orange seeds that light the gloom of the corner it chooses to reside in.

Iris berries by Jymm

In plant-lore, this iris has many names. Blue Devil, Dragon Flower, Dagger Flower are a few of them. Stinking Iris, Bloody Bones and Roast-Beef Plant are others, for if the leaves are bruised, they give off an unpleasant odour like stale, bloody meat. The evergreen leaves are typically flat, narrow and upright and I can certainly see how it acquired its other common-names Gladdon or Gladwyn, as they derive from Old English for 'sword'.

Irises carved in oak—Granny Bonnet

Many years ago Granny carved some irises in Oak. More recently, on holiday in France, I whiled away some time painting an iris to be left in the lovely old house we were sharing with friends. Now I have it in mind to get out my pastels and attempt another painting for myself. This time I hope I can do justice to the elegant purple Iris Siberica. I for one, just can't get enough of irises and their lovely fragrant blooms!