Beautiful, rewarding, unpronounceable: Chaenomeles, the spectacular shrub that grows happily in gardens where azaleas will never bloom
So many new types of Japanese flowering quince are now available that they have been the subject of a four-year trial by the RHS. Charles Quest-Ritson picks his favourites; just don't ask him to say their names out loud.
Chaenomeles are beautiful and rewarding garden shrubs — hardy everywhere and not fussy about soil or position. They have only two drawbacks: one is their thorns and the other is their name. We used to call them Japonicas or Japanese quinces — and some of us still do, because no one knows how to pronounce chaenomeles.
You realise that a genus such as chaenomeles is looking up when new, improved selections start appearing in garden centres. So many have hit the market in recent years that the RHS started a four-year trial of them in 2022 and the results should be available next year on the society’s website. The trial is important because it represents the largest collection of Chaenomeles ever assembled in Britain. The RHS judges have been evaluating every cultivar for the quality and quantity of its flowers, their colour and size; the length of its flowering period; the foliage, growth habit and vigour; and the size of the fruit, its colour and persistence.
C. speciosa ‘Scarlet Storm’ does not set fruit, so all its energy goes into growing and flowering.
Chaenomeles are close relations of the true quince, which is now in a separate genus of its own — Cydonia oblonga. They are mainly grown for their flowers, which come in a wide range of bright colours. Their value lies in their habit of flowering early in the year on naked branches, before the leaves open out. They are the sort of tough shrubs that you can plant almost anywhere and forget about.
That said, they prefer a sunny position where they will ripen their wood and produce more flowers next year than they would in shade. They are often grown against a south-facing wall, where they will start into flower even earlier than in the garden. Yes, they have thorns, but gardeners are used to handling much more thorny plants than chaenomeles and some of the latest American introductions are actually thornless.
There are three species of Chaenomeles: C. cathayensis, which is rare in gardens, has pale-pink flowers, but is not the most exciting in the genus as a whole. All the action lies with C. japonica, C. speciosa and their hybrids. C. japonica is short, often no more than 2ft high, and its orange-red flowers make a cheerful show from March to May.
C. speciosa is taller, reaching up to 10ft high, with red flowers from February to April. Both species have been cultivated for centuries in Japan and given rise to plants with varying shapes and colours. Some of the best cultivars are vigorous hybrids between the two species and known as C. x superba.
C. japonica ‘Cido’ is a good fruiter.
Chaenomeles have another attraction — their fruit, which resemble small apples with very short stalks that keep them tightly attached to the branches. The fruit is fairly astringent when raw — not recommended — but widely used for making jams and jellies. Most people find the distinctive taste delicious and, in places such as Poland and the Baltic states, varieties have been selected for the quantity and quality of their fruit.
The fruit of Chaenomeles cathayensis is largest, but C. japonica and C. speciosa also produce enough for most people to notice them when they ripen and change their colour from green or brown to yellow. They have a distinctive fragrance when ready for picking.
The semi-double flowers of C. speciosa ‘Yukigotan’ are followed by aromatic fruits in autumn.
The fruits of chaenomeles contain copious quantities of seeds — a seedling once turned up in one of my field hedges — and many different forms and colours have emerged since they were first introduced to England late in the 18th century. These include extra petals, variegated leaves, crooked stems, upright forms and flowers of exceptional size. The colour of their flowers now ranges from deepest red through every shade of orange, peach and pink, to lime green, cream and pure white; others sport a mixture of colours, too.
C. x superba ‘Crimson Beauty’ has leaves that unfurl red and become the familiar dark green. The fruits (not seeds) of Japanese flowering quinces can be cooked.
Some of the plants in the RHS trials are so new that they are not yet commercially available. Two to look out for in future are the super-vigorous Kai-Un with large, deepest-pink flowers and Lemon Sorbet with cupped, double flowers in shades of cream and green. ‘Atrococcinea’ is also promising, not only for the abundance of its red flowers in March, but also for its fine clean leaves in summer.
Among the new cultivars from Japan, some are colour sports and have a tendency to revert to the original shade, which is always exciting, whereas ‘Toyo-nishiki’, which has been available now for some years, has pale pink and white all together on its branches at the same time.
Five of the best Chaenomeles
- Chaenomeles ‘Moerloosei’ AGM (pictured above) is sometimes sold as ‘Apple Blossom’, which well describes the pink-and-white flowers. An old cultivar, still one of the best
- Chaenomeles ‘Rowallane’ AGM is low and spreading when planted in an open position, but it makes a good wall plant with lots of clusters of single flowers half an inch wide and brilliant red
- Chaenomeles Madame Butterfly
- is a very good single white cultivar from Japan, which tends to revert to pink so that both colours appear on the branches together
- Chaenomeles ‘Kinshiden’ is particularly pretty, one of the best doubles, with limey-white flowers… ‘Geisha Girl’ AGM is similar, but pale pink. Both are real eye-catchers
- Chaenomeles ‘Knap Hill Scarlet’ is an old variety with large (2in), single flowers in large clusters, bright red, but taking on a hint of pink, and with bright-yellow stamens
Most promising among recent introductions from the US is a series with marketing names such as Chaenomeles ‘Double Take’ and ‘Storm’. They have been selected for their lack of thorns, their 2in double flowers, and their long season in bloom. ‘Scarlet Storm’ is a glorious example, and has the advantage — or disadvantage — that it does not set fruit. All its energy goes into growing and flowering.
Chaenomeles are one of those shrubs, like camellias, that are traditionally said to flower in early spring, but which really have a much longer period in bloom. The first flowers on ‘Contorta’ and ‘Suifu-nishiki’ are usually out soon after Christmas and, in some years, as early as November, but ‘Syowa-nishiki’ is notably late flowering. Many varieties continue to produce a few flowers at least until July.
If, on the other hand, you want your plants to bear lots of fruit, orange-flowered ‘Cido’, greeny-yellow ‘Lemon and Lime’ and double orange-red blooms of ‘Clementine’ are all dependable fruiters. Some varieties — ‘Sargentii’ is a good example — keep their fruit on the plant well into the new year.
As with all shrubs, pruning is an option, but not an obligation. However, if chaenomeles are grown against a wall, you should let them build up a framework of branches, then spur back the branchlets after flowering and cut back anything that projects too far forward. If you feel adventurous, try grafting some of the contorted cultivars, such as ‘Contorta’ or ‘Tortuosa’ (a good, early-flowering orange variety) on 6ft standard stems of the common quince Cydonia oblonga. ‘Contorta’ is rarely seen and won Plant Heritage’s Threatened Plant of the Year competition in 2023.
Chaenomeles x superba ‘Jet Trail’ — together with all the selections shown here — was photographed at the four-year RHS trial at Chris Lane’s Witch Hazel Nursery in Kent.
Some people say that chaenomeles don’t look good in mixed borders, but I think their early flowering makes them useful adjuncts to summer-flowering shrubs, including roses. ‘Cido’, ‘Orange Beauty’ and ‘Rising Sun’ — all forms of Chaenomeles japonica — make good ground cover at the front of a border and taller plants can be underplanted with almost anything you wish. Once established, chaenomeles seem to live forever — a specimen at Caerhays Castle in Cornwall is said to be more than 100 years old.
C. speciosa ‘Moerloosei’, an old favourite and deservedly so.
However, chaenomeles have a special usefulness to people who garden on alkaline soils. When Japanese azaleas were introduced into England 100 years ago, our ancestors on acid oils were able to create brilliantly colourful displays in May.
Gardeners today have discovered that, in areas where chalk or limestone make the cultivation of azaleas impossible, chaenomeles are the perfect substitute. A hillside covered in neat bushes of chaenomeles makes a spectacular sight in March and April. The first I saw, in Italy many years ago, was so impressive that I vowed to copy it in the chalky download of my own garden. That reminds me — I must get on and do so.
This feature originally appeared in the December 31, 2025 issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
