Flowering Quince

Grown by: True Root Nursery

Species: Chaenomeles speciosa or Chaenomeles x 'Superba'

Why We Grow It: Flowering quince shrubs are hardy, relatively low-maintenance plants that are equally beautiful and fruitful! Whether you are enjoying the bright red blossoms in the spring or the fruit in the fall, this shrub is a great addition to the garden/orchard. Like quince trees, fruit from flowering quince is quite tart and is best used for cooking, baking, or preserving into jelly, sauce, or fruit leather (see photos!).

Photos provided courtesy of D. Brinkman!

Recommended Use: Cooking, baking, preserving, ornamental

Fruit Size: Small

Storage: Keeps a couple months in refrigerated conditions

Harvest: October

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preferance: Prefers well-drained loamy soils that are slightly acidic. Adaptable to many kinds of soils but does not tolerate alkaline conditions.

Flowering Time: Spring

Bloom Colour: Red

Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, these seedlings will produce fruit without another flowering quince but will produce more and better fruit if one is present. Flowering quinces do not cross-pollinate with fruiting quince trees.

Sun/Shade Requirements: Full Sun or Partial Shade (approx. 6-10 hours of sun daily), flowers best in full sun

General Growth Habit: Shrub reaches 2m tall, upright growth habit, productive. Generally low maintenance.

Overall Grower Ease Rating: Unknown

This rating is a combination of our experience growing in our test orchards and current available information on the cultivar.

These seedlings come from a flowering quince shrub that has been in D. Brinkman's wife's family for generations! It was planted at her great grandparents' farm in what is now Presqu'ile Provincial Park likely in 1921 when they got married. When the farm became part of the provincial park in 1956, cuttings were taken and grown at her grandparents' home in Scarborough for another 60 years. Brinkman's wife has likewise taken cuttings with her. For generations, this shrub has produced ample amounts of fruit and we are happy to offer its seedlings so like-minded growers can continue its legacy.

Flowering Quince seedlings are divided into the following grades:

-1 year plant - 20-40cm

There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of plants picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc.

When Will My Order Be Ready?

Spring: Spring orders are generally ready to be picked up or shipped out anywhere from (late March to late May)! We will be in touch in the spring once your order is ready to go. Orders placed in the spring might not be ready for 1-2 weeks as this is a very busy time of year for us.

Pre-Order for Spring Planting (Plants Ready March - May)

Great for all plant hardiness zones

$18.00

Size: 1 year plant

Out of stock

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