“An adorable subject for a small space” proclaimed an 1857 issue of The Horticulturalist, touting flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) as an outstanding ornamental shrub. At that point in the 19th century, the recently imported Asian cousin of the rose was still a garden novelty.

Today, flowering quince is much more familiar and not nearly as valued, in spite of its beautiful flowers. Who doesn’t admire its bright red, pink, orange or white flowers presaging spring on an otherwise drab February day? The trouble with flowering quince, says landscape architect and Dallas Morning News columnist Howard Garrett, is that “it looks so bad in the summer months.” Once the flowers are gone, after about two weeks of striking display, its leafy spring coat fails to adequately conceal a crisscrossed tangle of spined wiry stems.

It’s an unkempt sight that’s OK for rural settings but less appealing in suburban landscapes. The tangles of flowering quince can drive gardeners to grab the pruning shears, an impulse that often worsens the plant’s appearance and prevents next year’s flowers.

Besides its wonderful late-winter floral show, what else can be said in its favor?

Adaptability heads the list of positives. Flowering quince is easy to transplant and grow in a wide variety of locales, including north-central Texas. It prefers sun but also performs in partial shade. It thrives in both acidic and alkaline soils, although high alkalinity can stress the plant. It endures weather extremes of cold and heat without consequence. It benefits from occasional watering, but it is drought-tolerant. It is relatively pest- and disease-free. In short, flowering quince is the laid-back gardener’s dream acquisition: a low-maintenance plant that makes the best of its situation.

But what about its untidy appearance in summer? There are ways for the laissez-faire gardener to avoid making pruning a major issue. First, purchase compact hybrids, such bonsai favorites as white-flowered ‘Jet Trail’ or ‘Texas Scarlet.’

Second, site these scaled-down plants in yard niches or along property borders suitable to a natural look. Dale Groom, a syndicated garden columnist who is the Dallas County extension horticulturalist, recommends evergreen shrubs – holly, for example – as good companions to offset flowering quince’s wiry appearance.

Repeat-bloomer ‘Jet Trail’ is almost thornless and lies nearly prostrate. Its white flowers sparkle. Low-spreading, 2-foot-tall ‘Crimson and Gold’ offers red petals around clustered golden stamens.

The compact ‘Texas Scarlet’, introduced in 2005, offers extra benefits. It produces fewer spines and more fruit. Its greenish-yellow quinces, shaped like small, hard apples, can be made into jelly. (Know that fruiting requires ideal conditions and is often negligible in most flowering quince hybrids.)

If a trim garden appearance is not an issue, there are numerous less compact and striking quince cultivars suitable for north-central Texas. Ranging from 4 to 5 feet in height, ‘Cameo’ offers apricot-pink double flowers, fewer thorns and reputed above-average disease resistance. Bearing a parade of pink and white flowers on the same branch, thorny and fruiting ‘Toyo-Nishiki’ can reach 10 feet. Unfortunately, it might be more vulnerable to fire blight, a bacterial disease that destroys leaves. Sometimes ‘Toyo-Nishiki’ also has red blooms.

Flowering quinces perform well without pruning. But if you are tempted to tidy them a bit, wait until just after their flowers have faded. Then cut away old wood and only slightly trim a few other branches. Since this perennial buds on 1-to-2-year-old stems, it is important to preserve the previous year’s growth.

If flowering quince begins to produce fewer flowers, and long-term lack of water is not the cause, then a spring feeding of rose food should help. Otherwise this ornamental does its own thing every year without assistance. Flowering quince might look somewhat scruffy at times, but it’s hard not to appreciate such a carefree late-winter bloomer.

Bill Scheick is a garden writer and professor of American literature at the University of Texas at Austin.

source : www.dallasnews.com