I was quoting from a nursery site. However, this plant seems to be introduced by Garden Debut. Link below. There's not really much information on there. I do not know where to look up plant patent information. Usually though if a plant is bred specifically for hardiness, I would expect some information about that. Indian Hawthorns are not reliably hardy in zone 7A, and to see one listed as zone 6 is amazing. SO.....I would rather hear from someone who has actually grown the plant in their zone 7 garden (especially after THIS winter!) than trust a grower or plant introducer who may have been rushed in getting the plant to market before rigorously trialing it. For example, look at the many gardenias hitting the market that are listed as zone 6. I don't know of ANY gardenias that will not be damaged in zone 6 without major protection. But they put that on the tag. Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Debut - Redbird ('sPg-3-003')

Glen, I'm curious about how these plants were 'packaged when you bought them. They were containerized plants, weren't they? If they were balled and burlapped plants, I'd be a little concerned that the abnormally early start to hot weather might have hurt B&B plants that were planted in April. Also, did you check the undersides of the leaves to see if any sort of insect is eating on the leaves? The only issues I've had with Indian Hawthorne has been: (1) entomosporium leaf spot, which does not look like the browning you're seeing on your plants, and (2) occasional freeze damage (from a much colder than usual cold spell) that does leave foliage that looks like your plants. However, I'm fairly sure you aren't seeing freeze damage since the last freeze for most of us was in March, and for many of us it was in very early March. The fact that the plants started losing their luster and started getting brown leaves about a month after being transplanted does mean it could be transplant shock, which can show up in some trees and shrubs up to a year after they were transplanted. Has the browning continued since you first noticed it....like, is it progressing into more parts of the plant, or has it stayed exactly the same since you first noticed it? Also, have you used a trowel to dig down about six inches to check the soil moisture down deep? You said that the ones that had started to flower now have dried flower buds. Does that mean every flower bud dries up or just the ones on the same twigs as the browned leaves? Usually on this sort of thing, my gut instinct is right....but on your plants I have two different gut feelings--one is that they got too dry at some point and the damage appeared, but the stronger one is that it is a disease. However, I've never seen a disease do this to Indian Hawthornes. Hopefully, someone who has seen this on their plants will have an answer for you. If they were mine, I'd take some photos to the nursery where I purchased them and ask for their advice. Since they would know exactly what variety they sold you and what diseases or other issues might be common to it, they'd likely be your best source of advice in this case. If the browning doesn't progress and you start seeing new growth coming out that seems healthy, then I'd assume it was transplant shock. If you don't see new growth after a bit, then I'd consider that a worrisome sign in light of the browning foliage. Finally, with most plants, if you can irrigate with soaker hoses, drip irrigation lines or a hand-held hose that puts the water on the ground and into the soil instead of on the foliage, you can prevent a lot of the diseases that are encouraged by wet foliage. In the parts of Oklahoma that normally have wet, humid springs and summers, water on foliage just adds to the tendency for fungal and bacterial diseases to attack plants. I don't know if that is as much of an issue in western OK where the humidity often...

If the tops are struggling it is due to the cutting of roots. It may be a good idea to rig up some shading to be used until the struggling stops. This is one of the reasons planting in fall is to be preferred over spring planting wherever climate permits (in other words USDA 6 and above, using cold hardy selections): if it were getting cooler instead of hotter and the shrubs were not trying to produce tender new spring growth they would be less prone to top damage after root correction. You work on the roots at planting - and put up with any wilting or shriveling that may result from this at first - in order to prevent complete failure (girdling of roots or toppling of entire plant) perhaps many years down the road due to the presence of deformed roots. In your picture I may see a little droopiness of foliage. The browning of the flowers is them simply aging and going over as they always do. FYI the respective spellings are Hawthorn Tree and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

No advice huh? lol. I just went ahead and planted them about 3.5 ft apart in a sunny area. Hopefully they will make it through the winter ok. I left about 5 ft of space on the Podocarpus Macrophyllus on one side and about 12 ft on the other then there is a 6ft fence after that. I will have to trim it. I noticed the hawthorns make berries for the birds which will be a plus :)