Please confirm if this is a Paul's Scarlet Hawthorn tree

I saw this tree in my neighbourhood and I really want to purchase one for my backyard. Could anyone confirm the name of the tree and tell me where I can purchase one please? Thank you

 

Not red enough. 'Paul's Scarlet' is much more strongly colored. All you are liable to find offered is stock under that name, which will be darker than the one shown (yet may still not be the true 'Paul's Scarlet'). But maybe you would like one of these anyway.

Note that after the bloom the leaves are liable to become spotted and drop off prematurely. And fruits are not expected. So the only source of color from the tree is the short-term annual flowering.

 

And it's going to have thorns too. I don't do thorns.

 

I'd not rule out 'Paul's Scarlet' from lack of redness; its flowers fade noticeably as they age, and (from the brown edges to the petals) these are very nearly finished flowering. The fading is more marked it wet weather, as if the red were not colour-fast in rain.

 

Yes, I enlarged the pictures to see how far along the blooms appeared to be with this in mind.

 

The pink flowers suggest to me that it is more likely to be 'Rosea Flore Pleno'

 

Correctly 'Rosea Plena' which is itself a synonym of 'Rubra Plena', described by Phipps, Hawthorns and Medlars (2003, Timber Press, Portland) as carmine-pink, desirable when well-grown - and commonly grown, usually sold in North America (incorrectly) as 'Paul's Scarlet'.

 

If that's the case, then 'Rubra Plena' is rather more likely!

 

That's what Phipps says, anyway. Some trees here are pretty red.

 

The RHS gave the Award of Garden Merit to Crataegus laevigata 'Rosea Flore Pleno' as recently as 2002
and also lists it in their online plantfinder
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/rhsplantfinder/plantfinder2.asp?crit=crataegus+and+flore&Genus=Crataegus

Also, Hillier's Manual of Trees and Shrubs (2007 edition) describes Paul's Scarlet as originating as a sport of 'Rosea Flore Pleno' discovered in a garden in Hertfordshire, UK in 1858.

 

These days Crataegus laevigata is not the correct species, but rather C. x media - such forms are now considered to be hybrids. I'm going with the name because Phipps is effectively the current world authority on the genus, in his 2003 book cited above he called it C. x media 'Rubra Plena'. I don't know why he chose that one out of all the combinations that have been used for this tree (8 synonyms are given by Jacobson, North American Landscape Trees (1996, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley) - who listed it under C. laevigata 'Rosea Flore Pleno' (making a total of 9 names) but also noted in his entry on C. x media that some of the pink ones were "surely hybrids of this background".

 

Thanks for bringing us up to date Ron, I guess it will take a few years yet for the horticultural trade to catch up...

 

Apart from the scientific discussion re. the name, this is the tree that you will get when you buy Paul's Scarlett Hawthorn at the nursery. The tree is most beautiful when in bloom and looking rather inconspicuous otherwise, as many other ornamentals do. The flowers colour is stronger at the beginning and gradually fading during its rather long blooming period. I love it, too. Go ahead, but it and you will be happy you did, providing you take proper care of it. The tree is quite popular, so there should be no problem with finding the source.

 

This tree does not have thorns though. Is it still a Hawthorn then?

And thank you all for your replies. I will visit more nurseries this week end to find it since I had no luck in the nurseries near Burnaby.

 

hi there. Are you sure? Crataegus coccinea (if that name is correct), Crataegus laevigata, and Crataegus viridis do all have thorns. Perhaps not your cultivar.....Have you looked at one up close?

 

Yes, it is. Practically, mine doesn't have thorns, too. When looking very closely I was able to detect two very small thorns on two different branches. May be I could find a few more if I examined closely the whole tree.