C. cathayensis/Cathay Flowering Quince

Chaenomeles cathayensis

Commonly called Chinese Quince (to distinguish it from both the culinary European tree quince and the Japanese flowering quince varieties), this unusual and rare plant combines the best of both worlds! Like the Flowering quince bushes, the white-with-pink spring flowers are favored by early native pollinators, and the branches can be brought indoors to force for cheery late winter blooms. If pollinized by another variety of flowering quince, the bush produces unusually large, football-shaped fruits, each weighing up to 2 pounds!  Fruits, which only fully ripen in regions with long, hot summers, can be used in the same ways you use traditional European quince tree fruit.

The shrubby plant can be grown as a single-trunk standard by suppressing the many suckers at the base, or as a shrub with wicked long thorns. Can be grown in partial shade, but fruit production will suffer.

USDA Zone: 5

Mature Size: 18' x 6'

Sun: Full Sun to Part Shade

Ripening Time: October

Pollination: Partially Self Fertile