Quince

Sun

Full sun; tolerates partial shade, but flowers and fruits less well.

Water

Moderate; keep young trees evenly moist and water established trees deeply during prolonged dry spells, especially while fruit is swelling.

Soil

Deep, fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil, preferably slightly acidic to neutral; tolerates clay if drainage is adequate.

Height

12-20 ft (3.7-6 m)

Spread

10-15 ft (3-4.6 m)

Flowers

Mid- to late spring; solitary white to pale pink flowers open after the leaves emerge.

Foliage

Broad oval green leaves with softly hairy undersides, turning yellow in autumn.

Growth

Slow to moderate

Care needed

Medium

• Pollinators
• Heat tolerant
• Wildlife
• Low allergen
• Fragrant
• Edible

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Moderate

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   7 ft (2 m)

2. After 1 year

   7 ft (2.1 m)

3. After 2 years

   7 ft (2.2 m)

4. After 3 years

   8 ft (2.3 m)

5. After 5 years

   8 ft (2.5 m)

About 26 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Toxic

Growth rate

Slow

• Plant in a sunny, sheltered position away from frost pockets; most varieties are self-fertile.
• Water deeply through dry weather during the first two growing seasons and while developing fruit is under drought stress.
• Apply a modest balanced fruit-tree feed in early spring if growth is weak; avoid excess nitrogen.
• Mulch annually with compost or well-rotted organic matter, keeping it clear of the trunk.
• Stake newly planted trees only where needed for stability, and remove the stake once roots hold the tree firmly.
• Remove root suckers promptly, especially below the graft union on grafted trees.

Pruning. Prune in late winter while dormant to remove dead, crossing or crowded branches and maintain an open crown. Keep pruning light once established, as heavy shortening removes fruiting growth and encourages vigorous shoots.

Pick fruit in autumn when it changes from green to golden yellow and develops a strong fragrance, usually before the first hard frost; lift and twist gently, keeping sound fruit unbruised for storage. Most varieties remain hard and need cooking even when ripe. A grafted nursery tree usually gives its first worthwhile crop about 3-5 years after planting, sometimes longer in cool sites.

Late autumn to early spring

Plant while dormant when the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged.

Late winter

Prune lightly and remove damaged branches and root suckers.

Early spring

Refresh mulch and feed if needed; keep fertiliser and mulch away from the trunk.

Late spring

Check blossom and new shoots for fire blight and watch leaves for developing spots.

Summer

Water during prolonged dry spells and remove fallen, diseased leaves and fruit.

Autumn

Harvest yellow, fragrant fruit before hard frost and store sound fruit in a cool, frost-free place.

• Use as a small specimen tree in a sunny lawn, allowing room for its spreading crown.
• Plant in a kitchen garden or orchard for cooking fruit and spring blossom.
• Train as a fan against a sunny wall in cooler districts to improve fruit ripening.
• Combine with low herbs and spring bulbs around the outer edge of its mulched root area.

Garden styles it suits: Backyard orchard, Potager (kitchen garden), Cottage garden, Edible landscape, Homestead and Sensory garden.

Plant it with: Chives, Thyme, Catmint, Crocuses and Calendula.

Wildlife: Spring flowers provide pollen and nectar for bees and other insects. Birds and small mammals may eat damaged or fallen fruit, and the branches provide cover.

• Fire blight: blossom and shoots blacken and may curl like a shepherd's crook. Cut affected branches well back into healthy wood in dry weather, disinfect tools between cuts and avoid heavy nitrogen feeding; seek local advice for severe infections.
• Quince leaf blight: reddish-brown leaf spots can lead to early leaf fall and marked fruit. Collect fallen leaves, remove infected material and thin crowded growth to improve airflow.
• Codling moth: larvae tunnel into fruit where this pest occurs. Remove infested and fallen fruit promptly and use locally recommended monitoring and control methods.
• Poor cropping: frost-damaged flowers, shade, drought or insufficient summer warmth can reduce yields. Choose a sunny, sheltered site, maintain moisture and select a variety suited to the local climate.

The cooked flesh is edible and is not known to be toxic to people, cats, dogs or horses. Seeds contain cyanogenic compounds and should not be deliberately chewed or eaten in quantity; crushed seeds can be hazardous, so remove the cores during preparation and do not let animals consume large amounts of whole fruit. Hard raw fruit and cores can also cause choking or digestive upset.

• Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica)

  A low, often thorny shrub with orange-red flowers on largely bare stems and much smaller fruit; true quince is usually a small, thornless tree with pale flowers appearing among the leaves.

• Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia sinensis)

  Has conspicuously peeling, mottled bark and finely toothed leaves; true quince has smooth-edged leaves with downy undersides.

• European pear (Pyrus communis)

  Usually bears clusters of white flowers and has less hairy, often finely toothed leaves; quince flowers are solitary and young fruit is noticeably woolly.

Cydonia refers to Kydonia, an ancient city on Crete associated with quince, and oblonga means oblong, referring to the fruit's shape.

Propagation. Usually propagated by grafting or budding named varieties onto suitable quince rootstocks. Hardwood cuttings can root, though success varies; seed-grown trees vary in fruit quality and take longer to crop.

Accepted botanical name

Cydonia oblonga

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Iran, Iraq, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus and Uzbekistan.

Measured

Average height 488 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.