As far as can be made out using only this one picture it's sunburned. As though the source had it growing in the shade before it was sent to you.

On another subject this is a definite tree and not a border shrub. If it goes on to develop normally later it is soon going to overwhelm that orchard fruit tree(?) to the left, start shading out part of the lawn and so on. For instance one in Quebec was 24 1/2 ft. tall with an average crown spread of 30 ft. sometime before 1994 (the variety was in nursery catalogs by 1959, if not sooner). And another, in Victoria was 19 1/2 ft. high with an average crown spread of 22 1/2 ft. during the same year. If yours is a small place you may have to move the new hawthorn to where it can become a dominant element, a major garden feature over time.

Thank you. Landscaper told me exactly the same thing. I figured I can prune it and keep it small. I have always wanted a Hawthorn and it was too good to pass up. Another question though, Should I wait till next fall to fertilize, let it slowly adjust or would fertilizing this fall too much?. You’re right though. Now that you mentioned sun burn the new leaves at the bottom of tree doesn’t have any browning spots or looking dried up..

Fertilize only if there is an indication it is needed. A soil test report for instance.

Fall is a good time to fertilize hardy plants like this.

You're not going to be able to head back or shear this tree very much without deforming it, probably interfering with the flowering effect to quite an extent.

Fair. Do you recommend pruning sun burnt leaves or is it best to leave them on and let the season handle the rest?. I find it’s too sensitive to do anything.. Thanks

Fall planting feasible USDA 6 and warmer. Taking advantage of significant fall root elongation (60% of annual total increase in length) dependent on catching plants before this happens, with getting them in the ground after it is over essentially the same as planting at any other time between this physiological fall (see next paragraph) and the following spring (cold climate adapted woody plants essentially hibernate during winter).

The trigger for the fall root rush is the setting of winter stem buds. So if summer drought causes the top growth to stop and these buds to appear in say, July then that is when the fall root push will occur also.

Finally it is intact existing roots that take off after winter bud set. If a newly purchased specimen turns out to be root bound, as is pretty much universal in my experience then cutting and opening up of the roots needs to be undertaken. This will interfere with the fall planting advantage in proportion to how much damage has to be inflicted to get the new plant sorted.

New roots will not come from cut roots until spring, when the winter stem buds open and shoot growth starts. This is why bare-rooted stock is stored until late winter and then shipped at that time - the fine roots lost to the bare-rooting process will not be replaced until the top comes to life.

@bellburgmaggie I live up North in the NW quadrant we are on zone 2/3 level not sure of the microenvironment in Calgary. It might be just the weird angle of the photo I took from the second floor window. It’s actually 3.5 feet in from the fence. I’m not sure if it’s adequate space for it to spread and expand its root. Then again it’s on me, though. My Landscaper did mention about the crowding effect it might have on the growth of the tree. The strange thing is the root ball is just sitting along the same level as the ground as other plants along that back fence. This is only plant that’s showing any distress to be completely honest. I have another Hawthorn on the far right too. That seems to be doing well. I’m guessing this guy is too stressed though didn’t show any signs at first. I can take a picture of it tomorrow and tag it to this post.

@embothrium Thank you so much for the detailed post. I learnt something today. This explains a lot of the hardy Clematis that I had planted in Fall. It was completely wiped out in harsh winter last year and also I had moved from one flower bed to the other and I damaged the root pretty good and not to mention the problems with bunnies in my neighborhood. But this year though early spring it just exploded with blooms.. i thought it was pretty much gone.. Now if this Hawthorn didn’t fare well I have nobody to blame but myself.. :((

Burying the root crown when planting clematis - deeper than one would do with most plants other than flowering bulbs - helps assure they are able to come back should something happen to the rest of the top.

Embo frequently suggests spring only planting for colder than zone 6, but I am most successful with fall planting here on the northern edge of zone 5. We have very short springs with cold soil and can go from snow on the ground to temperatures in the 80s in a very few weeks, so our long fall and warm soil makes for much more successful planting here in central NH IME.

Always depends on just how hardy the specific kinds of plants being installed are. USDA 6 and warmer are where fall planting can be undertaken as a general policy, using a large number of different subjects. Colder than that a body has to be more careful about what they are planting at that time.