I’ve just had a large ornamental cherry tree removed from my smallish back garden. I’ve been humming and hawing over this drastic surgery for a few years now, and although it has produced a lovely display of early white blossom every spring, it has also completely dominated the garden. Sapping moisture and nutrients from the soil, the tree has stopped most other plants from flourishing. So it had to go.
Now done, I’m absolutely delighted (if a bit in shock) that there’s so much more light and space. And this is where the quince tree comes in. I want to replace the ornamental cherry tree with another tree, something more productive, but a tree that will provide some privacy without dominating the garden again.
In spring, I went to hear Joy Larkcom talk at the Chelsea Physic Garden, and was completely charmed by their fan trained quince tree (and Joy’s talk of course!). This tree completely fits the bill. The blossom in May was huge and enchanting and I was equally smitten by its large leaves. The supports here are approximately 3m wide and the tree at the moment is maintained to about the same height too.
On a recent trip to Wisley, the fantastically knowledgeable Jim Arbury recommended ‘Meeches Prolific’ as a variety that has some resistance to Quince leaf blight, and growing on Quince C rootstock (similar to the semi-dwarfing M26) should keep the tree relatively small. Keepers Nursery in Kent also recommend ‘Ekmek’ as its fruits are less gritty than ‘Meeches Prolific’, making it good for all types of cooking and baking. Now is the perfect time to order my tree, so I need to get out in the garden and get supports ready before it arrives in the new year. Very exciting!
It’ll be the first time I’ve ever trained a quince tree, but I’m excited by the challenge, and in years to come, it’ll be great to have these gorgeous fruits growing in our back garden.
I love my quince tree – it has the most gorgeous yellow floiage in the autumn too 🙂
Hi Michelle, took the top and bottom pics at the Chelsea Physic Garden yesterday, and was surprised at how many leaves were still on the tree. Quite agree-that yellow is beautiful.
You couldn’t have picked a better tree. I really love using Quince in cooking /baking. The smell of a fresh Quince is unforgettable. Plus the autumn colour.
Hi Sue, yes forgot to mention how intoxicating Quince aroma is! Have made some gorgeous quince cakes this year with fruits from a friend’s tree and love the fact that in a few year’s time, I could ba baking with my own.
Lovely fruit to cook with but also make fantastic room fresheners as the perfume of the fruit smells lovely when kept in a bowl.
Hi Sue, I’m becomming more delighted with each comment about the choice of fruit tree. Why did I wait so long!
I love the scent of quince. A friend of mine held one pressed to her nose throughout labour in order that the perfume could distract her. Needless to say I stuck to gas and air but I think about that story every time I see a quince.
Hi Sue, Scent seems to be a great reason to have a quince tree (and now I have that story in my head too!).
Long life to your quince tree ! It brought back to my mind the dates and quinces from “Romeo and Juliet” and also the delicious scent of the lamb tagines Mum makes with sugared an cinamoned quinces, typical of the Moroccan cuisine.
All my love to all the family,
Hi Fatima, Longing for one of your Mum’s tagines now! Hope all well with you and your family. Visiting London next Year?
Last year i went to buy a quince last year and couldn’t find one so ended up with a cherry. My plan is to remove this cherry this winter. If anyone would like it – it’s espaliered and only about 1.5m I’m on nicolabaird.green@gmail.com.
Hi Nicola, Hope someone has space for your Cherry tree. Wish I had room to squeeze one in. I think Keepers Nursery still have some quince maidens on rootstock C available if you still want one. It could be delivered along with my order in the beginning of Feb? X
How did you get a reasonably detailed estimate of delivery time from Keepers Nursery? All I received was a promise to let me know when it was scheduled for delivery, which could be any time this winter….
Hi Diana, I think it was more that the tree would definitely not be delivered until early Feb.
What a coincidence. I’ve just had my morello cherry tree cut back hard, in order to stop it keeping daylight from the whole back garden from September onwards, and planned to add a quince on the south side of the north fence and an espaliered russet apple above the low southern fence, both on dwarfing rootstocks to keep them at a manageable size for cropping.
I’m going for the one quince I could find available (at Keepers’ Nursery) that’s apparently edible raw as well as cooked: Isfahan. (Not sure what variety I used to have in my previous garden – whatever I could find at Columbia Road, I expect – but it’s something I really miss having here.)
I thought that I’d fan train the quince against the 2-metre fence somehow but haven’t got around to planning the hardware yet; it’s not yet clear how late this winter the trees will be delivered.
Hi Diana, Great minds…..I think my tree will be delivered at the beginning of February (weather permitting), so enough time to put up posts and wires before it arrives. Feel this could be an early January job, when all else is quiet in the garden.
This is lovely. We have an ornamental quince, which has beautiful coral-coloured flowers in early spring but doesn’t produce anything you can eat. We got an allotment this year and you have given me the idea of planting a proper one down there.
Hi Joanna, sounds perfect for your allotment (and I love an ornamental quince too). Great time to get one planted when the allotment isn’t too demanding over the winter.
We’ve been so pleased with our quince. I hope you enjoy yours as much. I think it’s amazing that such small trees produce such huge fruit.
Hi Helen, I was thinking the same as I looked at that huge blossom on such a relatively small tree. Can’t wait to get planting! X
An interesting choice ! It looks lovely and the leaves are pleasingly HUGE ! Nothing nicer than quince jelly – my mum used to make it every year and we ate it with cold meats and cheese.
Hi Jane, Yes, it’s a gorgeous tree all round isn’t it. I have made membrillo/paste in the past, with very pleasing results (plus it’s v. expensive to buy in posh cheese shops!). I love it with goats cheese and it keeps for months in the fridge too. A very timely reminder indeed. I think there’s still time to make some. Will pop over to the fantastic Turkish veg shop tomorrow to see if they still have quinces in stock!
Looks fab and I will definitely be getting one for my new garden! I’m putting in my order now! x
Hi Veronica, I think this would be a gorgeous fruit tree for your lovely new garden. I can see it now! ‘Isfahan’ is available from Keepers Nursery on rootstock C and can be eaten raw, as well as cooked. I was torn between this and the ‘Ekmek’, but have ordered the latter in the end. Hope your garden is developing well!! X
quince cheese or quince jelly is really tasty. Ekmek means bread in Turkish, so maybe it has the smoother texture to the fruit
Thanks for this information Sol!
Amused to find that quince jelly is now regarded by foodies as a necessary complement to the festive cheeseboard. Evidently we’re all jumping on the quince-growing bandwagon at just the right time – although it also explains why the nurseries have a considerable queue of earlier orders for the quince trees!
Nigel Slater also put some gorgeous new quince recipes into his Observer column yesterday, which should end up on The Guardian website.
Thanks for this Diana. Will search out these recipes.
I have one in France (‘coing’) and indeed it’s wonderful in spring and again in autumn with lots of fruit to harvest. Every autumn is a joy while cooking and mixing to make jellies and membrillo. Good choice!
Hi Maria, more and more happy with my choice. Seems like a tree that everyone loves to have in their garden.
It sounds as if the French for quince produced their word for a quince jelly – cotignac, which I’d only read about in a historical novel about Mary Queen of Scots, when she was a young girl in France. Clearly the Spanish membrillo is what caught the foodies’ eyes instead.
There’s a simple (and not too sweet) recipe for Cotignac d’Orléans at http://www.cooksinfo.com/cotignac
Hi Diana, I think the French Cotignac is made from the liquid of the cooked quinces which is poured into fir boxes to dry-similar to Camembert boxes (would love to try some!), and Membrillo is made from the fruit after it’s been cooked in a saucepan and then dried in the oven. Have I got this right?
You’re right. I’d not really noticed the difference – and never having eaten whatever quince product is supposed to go with cheese, I didn’t know what was intended for that.
Membrillo sounds more like quince cheese (which I’ve made in the past) than quince jelly, then.
Would dearly like a quince tree but not sure whether I could cope with anything as technical as training 🙂 We have a national collection of quinces a couple of miles away so must visit for advice on what to grow. Enjoy your tree Naomi and look forward to seeing photos of your first fruits.
Hi Anna, I think my first fruits will be some years away, but excited by the prospect none-the-less!
I was a little concerned when the nursery said to be careful when pruning in summer as Quinces are all tip bearers and you need to be careful not to prune laterals too hard to avoid losing the fruiting buds! Time will tell…..
That’s a great idea, always a shock to lose a large tree, but your trained quince should be a lovely addition to the garden – and kitchen – without taking over. I shall watch progress with interest, like Anna I have avoided trained fruit for fear of mesing up the pruning (real plants never look much like the wonderfully clear pictures in the books) and, in my case, missing the pruning window through illness. I feel like a woos (sp?!) and keep coming back to the idea as a wonderfully practical way to cram more fruit in to a small space…
Hi Janet, You’re right! I think the idea of training a fruit tree can initially seem be a daunting process, but like most things in gardening, you’ll learn through trial and error! It’s good to just get out there and have a go. Maidens (1 year old trees) aren’t too expensive to start experimenting on and hopefully there are courses near you that can give you some hands-on experience too-always a fab way to learn. Just written another post on trained fruit trees in France which might possibly encourage you to have a go?!!….
Temptress! In a year or two maybe. Though I have worked out where I would put one…
It’s usually spelt “wuss”.
I don’t know an amateur gardener who doesn’t find sophisticated pruning rather intimidating, though, so you’re in the majority here.
Thanks… I think…
I finally got my act together and applied some of the fruit tree pruning techniques I learned from the Tree Musketeers in January, to begin training the young quince I planted a year ago. Not being good at training wires tightly and not wanting too heavy a framework, I used long straight rods harvested (by CSR volunteers) from a supposedly twisted hazel at St Mary’s Secret Garden as vertical and diagonal supports, set into the ground, and put in some horizontal old bamboos to hold the structure in shape. (The diagonal supports tied onto the tree in your illustration are far too much for such a young tree to carry, so I’ve improvised.)