# Help with a bush/shrub



## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

OK we have lived here going on 4 yrs now. This bush is BEAUTIFUL when in bloom, but it only lasts about 2 weeks, and has SOOOO MANY thorns, DO NOT ever fall into it, or try to reach a "TOY" that may have gotten into it! cause you will look like you were in a cat fight!
CAN someone PLEASE tell me what it is?? 

Here is some photos ( BTW, I am in W. KY)

Here is the bush









Here is the flowers 









HERE Is the THORNS ( they are nasty all over)


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

Crabapple?


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## CrossCreek Mom (Aug 21, 2007)

Looks like what my grandma always called "flowering quince".


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## Wildcrofthollow (Apr 20, 2005)

I have always called this flowering quince as well. some folks call it japonica. Seems that I recall that the Botanical name for it used to be Chaenomeles japonica. I am almost certain that they changed the genus name to something else, but cannot remember what they changed it to. But if flowering quince works for you, it certainly works for me.


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

OK ty, off to look that up~! I know it isnt a crab apple, I have some of them too~!


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

OK this bush NEVER gets fruit.. just that flower and then BUSH rest of year.. so I dont know if it is that quince one  I looked, and they all say fruit bearing


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

I think they seldom have fruit in my area, but we call it quince also.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

it looks like the flowering quince i have in my yard, but i don't think mine is as nasty, lol.

eta...mine bears lots of fruit and the blossums look like these...

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=381

my shrub is as old as dirt, so i don't know if age may play a role in bearing fruit or not. your blossums look more pink than mine which are red. the form is basically the same...lots of small "trunks" in a cluster.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

i just took another look at my flowering quince and it has some nasty thorns just like yours. i can't believe i never noticed. i guess i thought all of the scratches i get from pruning came from the green briar that is growing from it's center...apparently not.


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

Ty everyone, now I know what it is ! whew !


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## Gailann Schrader (May 10, 2002)

...and the fruit can be cooked for excellent jelly...

Japonica - Quince.

Do a Google for Quince Jelly...

Yum!


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## giraffe_baby (Oct 15, 2005)

OK so you all know, now today the flowers are " REDDISH" looking. NO longer pink!


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## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

Do these bloom the same time the Forcythia bloom? 

I'm in VA and keep seeing these really pretty salmon pink bushes that are blooming with the Forcythia and I WANT one. 

Thanks,
Reese


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

My neighbor has a Japanese Flowering Quince and it does have fruit. Last year I gathered 5 gallons of fruits from it! The fruit is hard and very sour, with seeds in the middle (related to apples and roses). When it's sweetened, it is very flavorful and makes WONDERFUL jams and jellies, esp when mixed half and half with other fruits (last year I used raspberries and apples with it). It has a high level of natural pectin and can be boiled in water, the water drained off, sweetened and boiled until it turns reddish and it will set up by itself into a lovely jelly. Then I run the pulp through a food mill and mix that with fruits and sugar and do use a bit of pectin to really firm it up... wonderful stuff!

I guess its very high in Vit C, higher than lemons (more sour too I think!). I'm considering drying some to use when I cook this year instead of lemon juice. However, its easiest to handle if you cook it to soften the pulp. 

I gathered mine right about the first frosts. Later I guess it gets too soft - I may experiment this year. Earlier I'm sure its as hard as a rock.


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## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

MELOC said:


> i just took another look at my flowering quince and it has some nasty thorns just like yours. i can't believe i never noticed. i guess i thought all of the scratches i get from pruning came from the green briar that is growing from it's center...apparently not.


Meloc, what size is the fruit on a flowering quince bush? I had a quince tree in California, and it produced fruit the size of medium-sized apples. I used it for quince jelly, which is the most delicately flavored jelly I've ever had...but very hard to prepare, as the quince fruit is rock hard. 

I've seen lots of flowering quince bushes around here, but never noticed them with large apple-sized fruit.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

naturewoman said:


> Meloc, what size is the fruit on a flowering quince bush? I had a quince tree in California, and it produced fruit the size of medium-sized apples. I used it for quince jelly, which is the most delicately flavored jelly I've ever had...but very hard to prepare, as the quince fruit is rock hard.
> 
> I've seen lots of flowering quince bushes around here, but never noticed them with large apple-sized fruit.


I'm not Meloc, but the fruit from my neighbor's bush was about the size of smallish apples. I had the best luck cutting it into 4 pieces, putting it into a pot and covering with water, then boiling until soft. Then drain the liquid off for jelly and run the rest through a food mill (like making applesauce), then using the resulting pulp for jams. I didn't last too long dealing with "rock hard" and am considering a steam juicer for next years juices. I spend more on the neighborhood "free" fruit processing than I would buying "normal" fruits to work with! lol


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## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

Well, I've been meaning to get some flowering quince. Does anyone know if a particular variety has bigger fruit? I've never seen quince trees for sale out here, which is what I'd prefer, but if I can get fruit off a bush, I'll go that route. I haven't had quince jelly since I lived in California, and I bet I could sell it out here, it was so good. I make elderberry jelly too, from my wild trees, and that's great too.

Also, quince fruit, in a bowl in the kitchen will exude a wonderful aroma for scenting the room. It's supposed to smell like pineapple, but I never got that smell from it.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

sorry i took so long. they are about the size of a nice kiwi if i remember right. there may be some rotting brown ones left from last year. maybe i can get a pic.


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## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

MELOC said:


> sorry i took so long. they are about the size of a nice kiwi if i remember right. there may be some rotting brown ones left from last year. maybe i can get a pic.


Yes, please.

That must be the difference between the tree and the bush. The tree produces fruit about 4-5" in dia.


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## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

I am so glad this thread caught my eye. I had to go to town today and stopped at the nursery for more blueberry bushes. While there I asked about quince trees (not flowering quince shrubs) and they had them! 

I'd called last year about them and the girl I spoke with had never heard of them and said they didn't carry them.

I bought a quince tree today! :bouncy:

It's called Dwarf Rich's Quince. Extremely large fruit with lemon-yellow skin. Fruit is fragrant and covered with downy hair. Use fresh, or in jams, jellies and preserves.

Now...does anyone know how to use fresh quince? Other than as a room fragrance? I'll use it to make jelly or as room fragrance, but I've never heard of anyone eating the fruit raw.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

Now I have to find a quince tree and see if they will grow here... seems to me I read up on European quinces, which are larger and sweeter, and I would LOVE to have one of them! They are eaten raw, perhaps that is what you have?


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## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

I don't know Granny, I'll have to google it.


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## naturewoman (Nov 12, 2002)

Wow..this site has great info...I copied some of the most important here, but there is much more at the link.



> The native region of the quince is not precisely known, but it is probably wild only in parts of Asia including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkestan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. It has been cultivated in Mediterranean regions for millennia and has become naturalised in many parts; the fruit was highly regarded by the Greeks and Romans, and was the âgolden appleâ that Paris awarded to Aphrodite as a symbol of love, marriage and fertility. It is still an important fruit crop in its native region and in South America (Argentina produces 20,000 tons annually).
> 
> It was introduced to Britain at an early date (first accounts of its cultivation are from 1275) and was commonly grown in the 16th-18th centuries, when it was usually used for making quince marmalade. Its cultivation reached a peak here in the 18th & 19th centuries, then declined with the increase in popularity of soft fruits.
> 
> ...


http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/ansample.html


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

would you believe i took a pic of the blossums and forgot the fruit on the ground? lol


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