Chaenomeles japonica Orange Beauty - Flowering Quince

Chaenomeles japonica 'Orange Beauty' is a beautiful variety of Japanese quince with abundant spring flowering in semi-open, single, orange-vermilion cups. Pear-shaped fruits, which are initially green then yellow, form in autumn and are consumed cooked as jellies or jams. It is a deciduous and vigorous bush forming a shrub wider than it is tall. Its tendency to spread near the ground and its somewhat disordered appearance is especially suitable for defensive hedges or ground cover in gardens with a more natural style. Hardy and undemanding, it only fears heavy, too chalky or too dry soils. Its maintenance is limited to pruning after flowering to rebalance the branches and form the numerous suckers that appear every year.

Chaenomeles japonica belongs to the Rosaceae family, just like apple and pear trees. This shrub is native, as its name suggests, to Japan. Its foliage is deciduous, it grows in spring and falls in autumn. The cultivar 'Orange Beauty' forms an exceptionally vigorous quince tree.

It is a small shrub, with a bushy habit that spreads by producing suckers from its stump and often forms somewhat tangled, irregular, almost thornless branches. It will reach an average height of 1.5m (5ft) and a width of 2m (7ft), depending on growing conditions. Flowering takes place in March-May in average climates. When the winter is mild, it can start as early as March, before the leaves appear. The leaves are entire, ovate to lanceolate, 3 to 6 cm (1 to 2in) long and 1.5 to 3cm (1in) wide, with a beautiful shiny green on their upper surface. The flowers bloom for 4 to 6 weeks, first on bare branches, then among the young leaves. They are wide, 3cm (1in) cups, with 5 petals, and their orange-vermilion colour is intermediate between light red and orange. They are grouped in 3 or 4 small clusters and are carried by a very short or even absent pedicel on the previous year's branches. After pollination by bees and other insects, they give way to round fruits, 6 to 7cm (2 to 3in) in size, which turn yellow from the end of summer. These fruits, sometimes beautifully tinged with orange, are consumed cooked.

This Japanese quince is a rewarding shrub, both easy to grow and decorative at a time when most plants are still dormant. Compact, it finds its place even in small gardens, or in a container on a terrace or balcony. Japanese quinces, like Forsythias, Abeliophyllum, and Japanese kerrias, are among the first to provide beautiful spring flowers, so eagerly awaited after a long winter. They are comfortable in all climates, as they are not afraid of either heat or cold. They can be grown both as stand-alone specimens and in borders, and of course in a country hedge. For example, plant it with Lonicera fragrantissima. To save space, you can also train its branches against a wall, on a wire frame, and accompany it with a winter jasmine. Its still bare but bud-filled branches look beautiful in tall vases.