Flowering Quince – my earliest bloomer
I have a flowering quince bush in my backyard that has been there – probably – since shortly after the house was built in 1956. During most of the year it is a nice, full green bush. But for one month of the year, it is absolutely beautiful, covered in pink blossoms.
Quince blooms
Quince blooms
By the last week of January, the bush is covered in little round beads of pink. The bush is attractive enough at this point. The buds are nearly as attractive as the actual blooms. Then, a couple of weeks later all of the buds begin to open and will continue for about a month.
Full quince bush in bloom
The bare limbs and pink blooms have a wonderful artistic look. The branches remind me of Asian art that incorporates so many blooming trees. You can already see the first of the green leaves coming out. The pink blooms will stay on the bush for a week or two after the leaves have come out before falling away.
Quince blooms
I love that this bush blooms before anything else in my yard. Other than this bush, my backyard looks like it is the dead of winter, but this bush declares that Spring is not far away.
Already I have some Daffodil buds visible and tulips are starting to break through the surface of the soil. It won’t be long.
12 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
This is just the most delicious plant, but my quinces won’t be blooming until late May. Sigh…I’ll be a vicarious enjoyer of others plants in the meantime.
What a beautiful splash of color to brighten the winter landscape!
I’ve always like the flowering quince, definitely a nice early bloomer. Do you ever bring the branches in? They look really neat in a tall vase.
It sure is great to see those signs of spring!
Hi Zach–
Your flowering quince is ahead of ours. I don’t own one but neighbors do and they haven’t bloomed yet. I think our cold winter has stymied everything. They are lovely aren’t they?
Nice to look at when nothing else is around….but Winter!
It is beautiful!
Zach, what a beautiful site. I especially like the color!
Try the shrub witch hazel for even earlier blossoms! It flowers in March, in NY.
I am lucky enough to have moved into a house with a lovely little garden that has a quince bush. It has the same colour leaves as yours but the flowers were around for quite a while – maybe a month….
How should I treat it now? Do I prune it?
I apologise for my novice questions!
Mairead in London
[...] bought these quince blossoms in Brooklyn a few weeks ago. Often an early bloom, quince blossoms are a promising sign of spring amidst all the snow in New York City. Also [...]
[...] colors during the year. This year our Quince bush bloomed more than a month later than it did last year! There are many other fruit trees in bloom: cherry, plum, peach and pear. I pass this beautiful [...]
Thank you for posting this! I have been digging around on the internet to try to figure out what this was called!! I have one in my yard, we just moved here and I had not clue! It’s so beautiful!