by Mike Schmidt

SCIENTIFIC NAME:Chaenomeles speciosa 'Texas Scarlet'

One of my favorite trees is this Flowering Quince. It's a great little tree to have around in late winter, because it starts blooming in late February to early March. This photo below was taken on St. Patrick's Day, 2007. The tree was purchased as nursery stock, potted in a pot from Dr. Doyle, and pruned for the first time at one of our club's "Bring Your Own Tree" Workshops on April 17, 2004. As you can see I have had the tree exactly 3 years. I hope to always keep it in that pot.

I really like the naturalness of the 'clump' style and how the 3 trunks and branches interact while maintaining the shape of a single tree. This is the first photo I have taken of this tree, and it has helped me to see some branches that need to be pruned. Funny how things show up in a photo that you don't otherwise see.

The Flowering Quince likes full sun, but may need partial shade in midsummer in really hot areas. I keep it outside during the winter with mulch over the pot and in a windbreaker box that I have contrived beside the foundation of my house. It's great to be walking along the sidewalk in the winter and see my trees' limbs sticking up through the snow with blooms on them. The Quince likes a lot of water during the summer, and likes to be repotted in the fall.

Sometimes it will throw some blooms in the summer, especially after being pruned. The trunk on a Flowering Quince is slow to thicken, and I'm sure it would help to put it in a much larger pot. But this is one of my first trees, and I am kind of sentimental about it and the pot it's in, so I think I will sacrifice trunk size and enjoy its other qualities.

I would highly recommend a Flowering Quince 'Clump' style to anyone wanting an instant cure for the winter Blahs. It's an easy to grow tree and a style that is rewarding in a relative short time. I think it might work well for anyone starting out in this addiction called Bonsai.

"Please Honey, Just one more tree. I know we have no food to eat but it does produce Quince fruit. Yeah I know but if you put a whole lot of sugar on them, they're not too bad. Thanks, you're a peacher quince ha, ha, ha.

No, I didn't mean to imply that you're bitter."

Rantings of a hopelessly lost Bonsaiist.