Hawthorn is a “keystone” species in the western United States and elsewhere. Learning how this tree’s different growth habits reflect the places she grows and affect the people who engage her energy shows us how different kinds of “magic” happens when people and plants connect with earth.

EagleSong Gardener, hawthorn whisperer, guides you on a walk through time in the history and heritage of the hawthorn genus in Washington state. You will visit 3 distinct hawthorn plantings which are included in her seasonal rounds tending the wild.

First, you’ll visit an ancient native Crataegus douglasii grove where the trees fed the first peoples and may have seen fur trappers and explorers as they made their way over a mountain pass. Miraculously escaping destruction when a cross mountain highway came within 20 feet of the oldest trees.

Next, a broken/remnant hedge that was planted in the Snoqualmie Valley, an agricultural valley in western Washington. EagleSong has tended this hedge for over 3 decades, harvesting and cutting scion wood for propagation of the Golden Girl, a unique hawthorn with economic potential as a nursery product, horticultural specimen and herbal food & medicine crop. She is working with the farmer and community to protect the hedge for posterity.

And finally, you’ll tour a large highway mitigation planting that installed many species of native plants, including C. douglasii and C. columbiana. A model for cultivating potential “wild” harvest areas for plant gatherers and environmental protection with diverse stakeholders.