Whitethorn leaves

Look out for the first whitethorn leaves (pictured below) unfurling. The leaves are lobed like oak leaves and appear before the white flowers, which is a clear distinguishing difference from blackthorn, where flowers appear before leaves.

As whitethorn leaves seem to be unfurling early on hedges planted in recent years, the concern is that such shrubs may have been imported, of non-Irish provenance. While recommended to plant whitethorn of Irish provenance, grown in Ireland, farmers in ACRES can now plant imported whitethorn.