Red Sun Chinese Hawthorn

I’m willing to bet the majority of the people buying this tree are overseas Chinese who are nostalgic for a fresh candied Chinese hawthorn, aka bing tang hulu 冰糖葫芦. Folks, this tree is the real deal. After pre-ordering this tree in July 2023, it arrived in February 2024. Religiously following Laura’s instructions to pot and establish the bare root tree, the first year was spent watching a long stick magically become a little tree. The next year, clusters of beautiful white flowers adorned my little tree in the springtime and I transferred it from pot to ground (Northern California, zone 9b). Tiny baby hawthorns fell as the tree was once again establishing itself into the new environment. Despite this, I still ended the season with roughly 60 hawthorns ready for candying and had my first fresh tang hulu in October 2025. And it tastes just like the original.

I’ve since ordered the Big Golden Star variety and anxiously await to compare the 2 (gimme a couple years, though). I’m so grateful to Raintree Nursery for stocking this super rare tree and being able to provide a taste of my heritage all the way on the other side of the ocean.

Both Chinese Hawthorns are stunted and have galls and Rust. I had really looked forward to these Chinese Trees but sadly they don’t perform like the standard European variety.

Started to buds a week later. Thanks you Raintree!!!!

This is the second time that I am buying this tree. I live in zone 8b, and I bought one last year, but July heat and the west sun killed it even though I watered well. I am trying again, and for the last time. After discussing with Laura, the RainTree Horticulturist, via email, I have planted it where it will receive the most afternoon shade (shade is relative since I don't have much shading around my house, and the house will be used as shade as the summer sun cast the shade onto that spot around 3-4 pm). Back to the topic as far as the tree itself, it came about 4 1/2 feet tall with large bare roots and the buds protruding already. Within a week of planting, buds came out. The tree came on 3/18 and I took the below pictures on 4/6. I did pinch off the lower buds as I want it to grow like a tree.

The tree arrived in very good condition with the whole root system. We planted it in our front yard successfully. It is growing very fast! This is the best tree we ever got in the past ten years. We will order trees from this nursery in the future.

I bought a red sun hawthorn tree in 2018, because I wanted to use its fruit to make the "ice candied haws" in our hometown. The potted hawthorn tree I used grew very well. Since 2020, we have made a lot of delicacies every year when its fruit is ripe, "hawthorn cake, canned hawthorn, candied haws", so happy!

I grew up eating this fruit as a treat called 冰糖葫芦 as 8-10 of them were de-seeded, threaded through kabob sticks and coated with the clear colored melted rock sugar (冰糖) in a giant wok. The taste of the slightly tart fruit combined with the hard sugar coating was indescribable and unforgettable, an annual tradition of every winter/spring! I reserved a tree last year and got it in late March this year completely dormant as it came bareroot. Planted, it was about 4 1/2 feet tall and thicker than I had expected (like the thickness of a lipstick), which was a pleasant surprise. Forwarding a couple of weeks, it’s early April and it’s budding out nicely in several places. I plant to baby it and harvest some fruit some day so that I can recreate this childhood memory.

I ordered 2 Red Sun Chinese Hawthorn trees, and other fruit tree. Some how no of them come back for life. Be aware order fruit tree from this website, their tree only give 7 days to see their come back to life or not, not like other tree farms allow the one year worenty. I lost a lot of money.

Just saw Laura's video on the Chinese Haw; it was one of the first fruits I planted when I was choosing trees wildly, in 2018 I guess, and has grown almost precisely zero since then. It's always green and leafy and seems healthy, so I keep it. But I'd rate my chances of every having fruit as very low.

Healthy tree that is hard to find elsewhere for a very reasonable price!

Edited in Jan 2026: the tree was received and planted in a big pot in early 2024. It gave 8 healthy berries in fall 2025. It probably won’t achieve its full potential since I have to keep it in a pot, but im still very happy that I was able to make one batch of candied hawthorns and relive my childhood memories. Hope there will be many more seasons to cherish the berries. (Zone 7b, pot on rooftop)

Received this red sun Chinese hawthorn in time for the spring planting. It is packed carefully and shows healthy and strong trunk.

After planting the barefoot hawthorn tree from raintree nursery for 10 days , tree began to grow leaves!very raintree healthy tree ! I gave 5 stars

This was my second time that I bought fruit trees from this farm. The tree I bought last year, grows super healthy. So I bought a Chinese hawthorn fruit tree from them again which was very hard to find in the market. Very satisfied with this new tree.

These are so hard to find in California. Looking forward to seeing them!

I pre-ordered one last year and I got it this spring time, and it came out with leaves, but somehow it died.

I pre-ordered hawthorn trees last year and received this year. They came in very strong and healthy condition.

I bought one last year. It came in healthy condition. Thanks! My friend told that both birds and squirrels are not interested in hawthorn fruit:)