Chaenomeles seeds Japanese Quince japonica

Genus: Chaenomeles
Species: japonica
Common Name: Japanese Flowering Quince
Pre-treatment: required
Zone Hardiness Cold: 5
Zone Hardiness warm: 8
Height / Spread: 2m/-m
Plant Type: Small Shrub
Growth rate: slow-medium
Vegetation type: decidouos
Leaf /Flower color: Green/Orange
DESCRIPTION:
The spring-blooming Japanese Flowering quince is a spiny, medium-sized, deciduous shrub native to china. It is most noted for profuse clusters of small bright orange or red, bowl-shaped flowers that cover the plant very early in spring before and after its oval dark green leaves emerge. Their yellow or red apple-shaped fruits ripen in fall and may be used for preserves and jellies.
Full sun and well-drained acid to neutral soil are ideal for this tough adaptable shrub, though it will accept light shade and mild alkalinity. Its broad-spreading form and spiny branches make flowering quince useful for hedges or screening. It combines well with other bright early-bloomers like forsythias. Cut branches can be forced into bloom in late winter.