# Weeping Hawthorn (Crataegus lacrimata) > A small hawthorn of southern pinewoods and sandy scrub, with strongly weeping branches, tiny bright green leaves and yellow to red haws in summer. Also called Pensacola hawthorn, sandhill hawthorn. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/weeping-hawthorn/ ## Facts - Type: Small tree - Mature height: 10 to 26 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 8 to 9 - Grows wild in: Sandy barrens and dry uplands - Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Dry, Average - Growth rate: Medium - Traits: Rare, Drought tolerant, Wildlife value - Sold as: Saplings, Seed Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Weeping hawthorn is a small tree of dry pinewoods and scrub in the Florida panhandle and nearby states. It usually grows on a single stem, and its slender branches weep strongly. Its narrow, bright green leaves are under an inch long and smooth. NatureServe ranks it vulnerable, and the conversion of dry uplands to pine plantations is its main threat. Botanists still debate whether it is a species of its own, and one Florida flora folds it into a broader one. Grow it as a specimen on dry, sandy ground, where its weeping form can be seen from the house. ## Size, growth and what to expect No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a medium grower, like most of our hawthorns, about a foot and a half a year. It is a small tree of 10 to 26 feet. White flowers a little over half an inch across open in March and April, one to three together. The haws ripen in July and August, about a third of an inch across, yellow, yellow blushed red or red. Birds and other wildlife eat hawthorn fruit, and the thorny branches shelter nesting birds. Its home is dry pinewoods, open scrub and dry hammocks on sandy soil. It is most common in the Florida panhandle, where it grows in abundance in places, and it reaches into nearby Alabama and Georgia and east to South Carolina. ## How to grow Weeping Hawthorn Weeping hawthorn wants full sun or light shade and a sandy, well-drained soil. In the wild it grows on dry sand in pinewoods and scrub. Its fine thorns grow up to about an inch long, so keep it back from paths. Set trees 15 feet apart, and keep each one 15 feet from a wall and 15 feet from overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. It is sown as other southern hawthorns are. Clean the seed from the ripe fruit, and sow it outdoors in fall. Water weekly through the first summer, and in dry spells for the next two. Deer browse hawthorn leaves and twigs and rabbits gnaw young bark, so cage each sapling for its first three years. Its flowers carry both male and female parts, so there are no male and female trees to pair. Hawthorns in general can suffer from rusts that spend part of their life on eastern redcedar, so keep it away from redcedars. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 9: Crataegus lacrimata, Phipps](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100117) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Crataegus chapter, Lasseigne and Blazich](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Crataegus.pdf) - [NatureServe Explorer: Crataegus lacrimata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.152165/Crataegus_lacrimata) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Crataegus lacrimata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CRLA2) - [Wunderlin, Hansen, Franck and Essig 2025, Atlas of Florida Plants: Crataegus michauxii](https://florida.plantatlas.usf.edu/plant/species/2976) - [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Element Tracking Summary, 6/18/2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf) - [Missouri Department of Conservation Field Guide: Hawthorns](https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hawthorns) - [NatureServe Explorer: Crataegus harbisonii and Crataegus triflora](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.819851/Crataegus_harbisonii) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Multistem or single stem? Sometimes the trunk is hiding the answer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/multistem-or-single-stem/index.html.md) - [Leaf litter, not wood chips, under the canopy](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/leaf-litter-not-wood-chips/index.html.md) - [Native trees and shrubs for butterflies and moths: host plants first, nectar second](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-butterflies-and-moths/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Weeping Hawthorn, add ?species=weeping-hawthorn with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=weeping-hawthorn&zone=8&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Weeping Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=weeping-hawthorn): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=weeping-hawthorn - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Weeping Hawthorn is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=weeping-hawthorn - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Weeping Hawthorn needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=weeping-hawthorn:1 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Weeping Hawthorn flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.