Other Names:  Common Quince

Brand:  Garden Debut

Description:

A small, compact shrub with dense, intertwining branches, featuring brilliant red double flowers in early spring; a profuse bloomer that is great for mixed borders

Ornamental Features

Red Premier™ Flowering Quince features showy red cup-shaped flowers with gold anthers along the branches from late winter to early spring before the leaves. It has dark green deciduous foliage. The glossy oval leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color. The fruits are showy yellow pomes displayed from late summer to mid fall. The fruit can be messy if allowed to drop on the lawn or walkways, and may require occasional clean-up.

This plant is primarily grown as an ornamental, but it's also valued for its edible qualities. The bitter fruit is most often used in the following ways:

• Preserves

Landscape Attributes

Red Premier™ Flowering Quince is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a high maintenance shrub that will require regular care and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Messy
• Spiny

Red Premier™ Flowering Quince is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Red Premier™ Flowering Quince will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 40 years or more.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.