May Birth Flower - Hawthorn

The whitish blue hawthorn hangs with a single screw — no velcro, no command strips, no adhesive that loses confidence at a bad angle. The keyhole mount on the back sits flush against the wall once hung. The process takes 90 seconds. The screw is not supplied — standard household size works. For plaster or tile, a small anchor handles it without drama. After 90 seconds the hawthorn is on the wall. The wall's opinion on this has not been solicited.

The May birth flower is the hawthorn — the hedgerow blossom that covers most of the British and European countryside in white every spring and has been a symbol of hope and good luck since before good luck had an official flower. It is not the most famous birth flower in the calendar, which is either a problem or an opportunity depending on whether the giver wants to give something specific. Chive's ceramic version is whitish blue, 3 inches, kiln-fired by hand. It is the only ceramic hawthorn in the Denver Botanic Gardens gift shop.

An unusual birthday gift is one that requires the recipient to tell the story of how they got it. A whitish blue ceramic hawthorn — the May birth flower, 3 inches, kiln-fired in Toronto, stocked in Denver Botanic Gardens — is unusual in the way that requires explanation: it is the actual birth month flower, in an unexpected glaze, made by hand, stocked in institutions, and it hangs with one screw in 90 seconds. The explanation takes about 30 seconds. The flower is on the wall for the rest of it.

A ceramic birth flower is one of the better Mother's Day gift options available, specifically because it references the recipient's birth month rather than a generic appreciation of motherhood. The May hawthorn in whitish blue — kiln-fired by hand, stocked in Denver Botanic Gardens, ships gift-ready — is the Mother's Day gift for the mother born in May who has been receiving tulips for years. It hangs in 90 seconds, requires nothing after that, and is still on the wall at the next Mother's Day and all subsequent ones.

Plants for bathrooms with low light are a short and largely disappointing list. The ceramic hawthorn requires no light, no humidity, no watering, and no concerned glances from guests who notice the plant is not doing well. It is kiln-fired ceramic and will remain whitish blue on the bathroom wall regardless of what the light situation is. SFMOMA stocks the Birth Flower Collection, which is perhaps the most credentialed endorsement available for putting ceramic flowers in any room, including bathrooms.

Hawthorn is the confirmed May birth flower in the traditional floral calendar — specific to the month in the same way that the recipient's birthday is specific to May. Most May birthday gifts ignore this entirely and opt for something seasonal. A whitish blue ceramic hawthorn acknowledges the month specifically, which is a different kind of attention. It ships gift-ready, hangs in 90 seconds, and does not require the giver to explain why they chose it, because the month explains it. Denver Botanic Gardens agrees.

The hawthorn has been told. It took the information calmly and continued being a hawthorn in a whitish blue glaze, which is all it was ever going to do. Of the twelve birth flowers in the Chive collection, the hawthorn occupies the category of flowers that require the most explanation to a general audience — snowdrop, primrose, and hawthorn all outrank rose and daffodil in this metric — and the ceramic hawthorn carries this distinction with what can only be described as appropriate indifference. Denver Botanic Gardens stocks it. The hawthorn is unbothered.

A going away gift works best when it travels well and installs easily in the new location. The whitish blue ceramic hawthorn — 3 inches, ships in a gift box, hangs with one screw in 90 seconds — is the going away gift that arrives at the destination ready to be on whatever wall is available. The person who is leaving has a May birthday, or doesn't, but either way they are getting a ceramic flower stocked in Denver Botanic Gardens and SFMOMA that will be on their new wall within 90 seconds of unpacking.