Chaenomeles speciosa Moerloosei
Here’s Cameo:
Apple Blossom:
The Ornamental Japanese Quince or Chaenomeles are a group of shrubs that are easy to grow thriving in most soils that have good drainage. From February to May the five-petaled, flowers appear in a range of reds, pinks and oranges with their distinctive yellow stamen. Flowers are followed in autumn by spherical yellow apple-pear shaped Quince fruits that have there own fragrance. There are some double varieties now available but they do not set fruit.
Crimson & Gold:
As I think you can now imagine Chaenomeles make good and often under utilised shrubs and small trees in the landscape. Varieties vary from 3 feet to 12 feet in height. I grew my plants (not shown above) from seed supplied by the Royal Horticultural Society in the annual seed distribution.
Growing Tips for Quince
- Ornamental Quince also known as Cydonia are shade tolerant. For hedging the thorns make for a good security feature.
- Shrubs may look a bit scruffy but are great when trained on a wall.
- The flowers are a good source of early nectar and pollen for solitary bees.
- Against walls they should be spur-pruned like apple varieties to produce a heavier crop of flowers and fruit. In other formal situations, it should be treated as any other early-flowering shrub and pruned directly after flowering to encourage new growth on which to flower the following year. They only need light pruning.
- The fruit of the common quince, Cydonia oblonga Vranja, has the best flavour for cooking.
- Chaenomeles are generally vigorous and suffers little from pest and disease problems.
Some Varieties to Grow
- Chaenomeles speciosa varieties like white flowered ‘Nivalis’ remain popular but the leave tend to cover the blossom. I like the light pink ‘Moerloosei’ and ‘Eximia’ an old variety with pinkish-red flowers, dating back to the 1880s.
- Chaenomeles x superba ‘Crimson and Gold’ has a well deserved AGM
- There are some interesting new varieties where breeders have gone with pink and orange varieties like C. x superba ‘Pink Lady’ (AGM) or C. Rowallane a larger blood red with spreading habit.
- “The white-flowered Chaenomeles x superba ‘Jet Trail’ is a lovely ground-cover plant.
- Chaenomeles x superba ‘Tortuosa’ is a very distinctive variety that makes another good ground-cover option – stems grow all over the place.
- Chaenomeles x superba ‘Rowallane’ AGM, which tends to be lower growing and ideal for covering a bank or low wall.
I think the Quince family deserve to be more widely grown.
