Blackthorn flowers

Look out for the first blackthorn flowers (pictured above), with small snow-white petals striking a stark contrast against the black stems. Blackthorn flowers appear before its leaves, which is a clear distinguishing difference from whitethorn, where the leaves appear first.

While regularly appearing after St. Patrick’s Day, blackthorn flowers appearing in February are very early. As they seem to be appearing on hedges planted in recent years, the concern is that early flowering shrubs may have been imported, of non-Irish provenance. Farmers planting hedges in ACRES who wish to include blackthorn can only use it if grown in Ireland of Irish provenance. Blackthorn with its sloes in autumn is part of our native Irish biodiversity.