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Quince
Duncan Blackwell
Posts: 87
in Plants
Will a Quince grow ok in a large plant pot? I have space in my garden for 1 but I also have a north facing corner by the kitchen window and thought a Quince would look good there.
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Are we talking about the Cydonia quince, grown for its large pear shaped fruits, or are we talking about Chaenomoles, sometimes known as the Japanese Quince, grown for it's attractive flowers (although it does also have fruit which can be used as quinces)?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dovefromabove, you had to spoil it didn't you
I don't have a clue, I've seen on eBay a Cydonia Vranja and a Chaenomoles too. I thought a Quince was a Quince was a Quince
Who came out with the idea of naming different things all the same??
Which would be best in the pot? I can have pretty much any size pot there
The general public came out with the idea of different things having the same name.
They both have perfectly good proper names
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=5872 fruit trees
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=2304 flowering shrubs with edible fruit
In the sticks near Peterborough
Go on Duncan, have one of each - grow a proper fruiting quince in a huge pot, and a chaenomoles up against a wall or a fence
This wonderful nursery http://www.readsnursery.co.uk/categories/Quince-and-Medlar-Trees/ to whom I am not related in any way, are really helpful and will answer queries by email, so I suggest you ask them about buying and growing a quince in a pot.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
We have a quince tree and we love it. It's called Peter - a nod to Shakespeare obviously, but then I am an ex-English teacher. We only bought it because we went to the garden centre on a windy day. It was covered in blossom, but on its side. As we continued our search for something else, we picked it up as we went by. It seemed the kindest thing. Five minutes later and it was on its side again. We picked it up again, and went on to find a eucalyptus tree. We bought the eucalyptus and continued. The quince was down again. 'What is that pretty tree?' we asked the man. And suddenly it was a done deal.
When we got home, it seemed the only way to plant it was to dig a 2ft hole into the iron ore layer of our back garden - hours of hacking away at a peculiar blue stone with rusty bits fusing it together. But we must have done okay, because the tree has been doing really well. Too many quinces to cope with last autumn. I made quince jelly, and put some in apple crumble. Lovely flavour.
The eucalyptus died in the hideous winter of 2010.
Which variety do you have?
Duncan, I have to say I don't know - don't think it had a label - probably blew off somewhere. Only found out it was a quince cos we asked the man! It has a 'rangey' habit and big leaves and large languid white flowers. And massive fruit. If it were light now I would take a picture, although without leaves it might be hard to identify. I think your Tarmac might be worse than the iron ore. I use a tool I call a hacker - a sort of hammer thingy, to get through it if I have to, but mostly we just build on top.
Stuff the name as long as it looks good
Duncan, I have had a cold for the last 4 days, which has kept me bored stiff, frustrated, and largely indoors - hence a positive flurry of posts on these threads. I have begun to see a pattern emerging, which is that I am a cheapskate who indulges in rescue fantasies. Everything I say is about spending very little and nursing hopeless horticultural cases back to life.