Chaenomeles, Flowering Quince 'Contorta'

This plant came with my new home. Sure it is pretty in the late winter/early spring. It is the first thing to bloom. I find it a boring...Read More shrub the rest of the time. In the fall/winter we were not sure what it was and if we should pull it up. We didn't know if it was alive. It looked so dead. No fruit on this thing, but I don't know when it was planted. FYI we are in Clovis, CA, right next to Fresno. (9) I am not much into things that bloom for a month or so. This one may go.

Nice winter interest - covered with both white and pink blossoms early - last winter starting in late January. My plant of 15+ years is n...Read Moreon-aggressive. It will sucker occasionally, but remains at 4' x 3'.
May take 4-5 years before it sets fruit (in zone 7) from seed or cutting.
From experience with my plant: If you plan to grow from seed, clean and rinse seeds well, then give 2 months cold. Seeds usually start to germinate cold. Approximately half the seedlings will show some degree of contortion, from mild to extreme.

This plant comes out of dormancy easily and will form flower buds very early so they are easy to lose to cold. It hasn't been very florif...Read Moreerous for me but I don't mind. Having the flowers dot along the stems make the contours more noticeable. I do wonder about the flowers in zone 5. I've seen the old fashioned chaenomeles around and this one has never flowered as heavily as that one or have grown as vigorously so some of you would not rate that as a positive.
Don't expect as much drama as Harry Lauders Walking Stick but charming just the same. I got a small plant from Fairweather Gardens at least ten years ago and it is still under three feet. It had been stepped on and broken down to the ground when I first got it and reappeared two years later so it's tough. Transplanted it without any trouble. Never gotten any kind of fruit on it.

My most favorite flowering shrub in my yard. Contorted, bare branches provide plenty of winter interest , but its most breathtaking appe...Read Morearance occurs in early spring, when hundereds of pink/white blossoms cover the branches.