Why are my hawthorns dying
By Bigg
United Kingdom 
We have had 10 hawthorns growing in our garden beside a fence they were planted 7 years ago. Last year one of them died. In May this year another flowered and then suddenly died, now another has its leaves turning brown and looks like it is dying too. Does anybody have any idea why this should be happening to a normally trouble free plant?
13 Jul, 2009
Answers
I would suggest honey fungus,as drought symptoms are the sign in a established plant - speading to the next one. This year has been extremely wet, I would have thought- certainly not a drought situation. The hard weather of early this year did kill off many of the shrubs in my garden, due to hard frosts & snow, but I would look at the roots and bark to establish id honey fungus is present, do not plant anything else there without removing the soil.
13 Jul, 2009
Hawthorn is sometimes callled 'Quickthorn', so I'd imagine it may have got to quite a hieght. But I would expect even established plants such as these can potentially be affacted by drought. So many shrubs and hedges are being reported on GOY as suddenly dying off this summer. There has been so little rain this year. Best thing you can do is to give them a deep watering with a hose and hope that you don't lose any more.
13 Jul, 2009