A year ago I sold a client 4 snowbird hawthorns. They wanted the fruit for medicinal purposes. I've been told since that a common mutation for double flowering is that it comes at the expense of stamens, thus double flowering trees tend to produce less fruit. This came up in reference to Princess Kay double flowering plum, a sport of P. nigra. Now, I want to make things right. I've offered to exchange the trees for Toba hawthorns, which do bear fruit. The other possibility is PFRA shelterbelt hawthorns, a hybrid of unknown ancestors. These certain bear fruit. If the Snowbirds are just lacking stamens, then a couple of shelterbelt hawthorns can provide the pollen. 1. How prevalent is hybridization of hawthorns? 2. How good a generalization is the 'double flowering' => little fruit? 3. How does Toba escape this dilemma? 4. Is it possible for pollenators to work with double blossoms? (Too many petals get in the way? Not worth the energy cost to bees, butterflies?)
