Native to New Zealand, Brachyglottis greyi 'Sunshine' is a semi-evergreen shrub. A compact, hardy shrub, Chaenomeles x superba 'Crimson and Gold' has.
A fruit of Central Asiatic origin, quince is often overshadowed by its sweeter pome-fruit cousins, apples and pears. Easily bruised, frequently hard and seldom fully sweet, quince requires patient cultivating and cooking to reach its delicious potential. This 'golden apple' of Greek mythology, and perhaps the apple of Adam and Eve, grows well in a Mediterranean climate. Both the fruit of the quince tree and that of ornamental quince shrubs bring a fragrant new taste to your home garden.
Tree Quince: Cydonia oblanga
This fruit-bearing tree is the best-known and most commercially cultivated quince species. A rose family (Rosacea) member, Cydonia oblanga is the only member of its species, a self-pollinating tree approximately 15 feet tall, hardy in United States Department of Agriculture planting zones 5 through 9. Quince requires full sun and fertile soil. Originally common in New York orchards, quince trees need long hot summers to ripen well. High humidity promotes fireblight, to which the tree is highly susceptible. Fruit turns yellow and highly aromatic in the fall, but may remain hard and astringently tart when harvested. Fuzzy skin and flesh bruise easily. Before the commercial development of powdered gelatin, homemakers added quince to jams, jellies and desserts because of the fruit's high pectin content. Fruits are pear-shaped, and the size of a large pear or apple. California leads United States commercial quince cultivation in the San Joaquin Valley. Common varieties include Pineapple, Karp's Sweet and Smyrna.
Shrub Quince: Chaenomeles Species
Three shrub species, Japanese (C. japonica), common ornamental (C. speciosa) and hybrid flowering (C. x superba), are the most widely grown members of a confusing shrub quince family, also called flowering quince, ornamental quince and false quince (Pseudochaenomeles spp.). Along with Chaenomeles sinensis, grown mostly in China, their shifting nomenclature illustrates the confusions that arise when plants are relocated from native soil and the growth of plant taxonomy over centuries. At times, these shrub quinces have been classified as quince (Cynodonia), ornamental quince (Chaenomeles), false quince (Pseudochaenomeles) and apple (Malus) species. Of the widely available species, common ornamental is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 8, japonica is hardy through zones 5 through 8 or 9, and hybrid flowering is hardy in zones 5 through 9. Shrubs have thickly clustered branches, and grow to between 4 and 6 feet in height and width.
Fruiting Varieties
Both Japanese and common ornamental species produce fruit as well as flowers. Able to tolerate partial shade, they fruit and bear best in full sun. Fruits range in size between 1.5 and 2.5 inches in diameter, and they share the hard, sour character of tree quince. Like tree quince fruit, they also soften and develop fruity sweetness when cooked. Depending on location, plants flower in early spring, and fruit can be picked in late fall. Many varieties are thorny, making picking difficult. These combined qualities suggest that, for most gardeners, fruit from ornamental quince will remain a minor treat rather than a major harvest.
Non-Fruiting Species
Forming hybrids can sometimes mean losing one attribute in favor of another. Chaenomeles x superba was hybridized from Japanese and common ornamental stocks in response to home gardeners' desire for larger, showier flowers. As a wide range of horticulturalists and gardeners will attest, shrub quince spends only two of 52 weeks a year in bloom, remaining twiggy and thorny with nondescript deciduous foliage for the remainder of the year. The superba hybrid offers increased flower size and more attractive foliage, in color combinations ranging from white to pink, red and orange. Common varieties include Jet Trail, hardy in USDA zones 5 through 8, and Texas Scarlet, hardy in zones 5 through 9. Shrubs grow between 4 and 6 feet in height and width. New thornless and double-flowered varieties are becoming available. Hybrid flowering varieties do not bear fruit.
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About the Author
Janet Beal has written for various websites, covering a variety of topics, including gardening, home, child development and cultural issues. Her work has appeared on early childhood education and consumer education websites. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Harvard University and a Master of Science in early childhood education from the College of New Rochelle.
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Beal, Janet. 'Difference Between Quince and Ornamental Quince Fruit.' Home Guides | SF Gate, http://homeguides.sfgate.com/difference-between-quince-ornamental-quince-fruit-65846.html. Accessed 16 September 2019.
Beal, Janet. (n.d.). Difference Between Quince and Ornamental Quince Fruit. Home Guides | SF Gate. Retrieved from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/difference-between-quince-ornamental-quince-fruit-65846.html
Beal, Janet. 'Difference Between Quince and Ornamental Quince Fruit' accessed September 16, 2019. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/difference-between-quince-ornamental-quince-fruit-65846.html
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Chaenomeles is invaluable for spring colour with some varieties of the shrub bursting into bloom as early as February. Single or semi-double cup-shaped flowers, between 3cm-5cm in diameter, stud the bare branches of this spiny, spikey shrub long before the leaves appear, reminding me each time that they emerge of Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom paintings; the blush flowers stark against bright-blue winter skies. This flowering quince comes in a rainbow of corals, pinks, scarlet and creams, and the elegant flowers often mature into aromatic greenish-yellow fruit (up to 5cm across) that you can make into a delicious jelly.
Compact forms grow to little over a metre in height and spread, but some of the larger speciosa varieties can reach a spread of 5m and grow…
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