Japanese Quince 'Sargenti'

Japanese Quince 'Sargentii' (Chaenomeles japonica 'Sargentii') is the orange flame of the spring garden. Before a single leaf opens, the bare thorny shoots are covered all over in cup-shaped orange-red flowers.

It reaches 1-1.5 m in height but sprawls 1.5-2.5 m across, so it is used on slopes, in low hedges and at the front of borders. In autumn fragrant yellow fruits ripen and go into jam and jelly. The shrub is undemanding, copes well with dry soil, and flowers most abundantly in full sun.

Key characteristics:

• What makes it special: The fruits are hard greenish-yellow applets of about 4 cm, far too astringent to eat raw, yet wonderfully fragrant in jam and jelly; always remove the seeds before cooking, as they are toxic.
• Dimensions: Height 1-1.5 m, spread 1.5-2.5 m - reaching this size in 5-10 years.
• Hardiness: It withstands frosts down to -29 °C (USDA zone 5).
• Flowering: In April-May, before the leaves open, the branches blaze with orange-red cup-shaped flowers.
• Light: It grows in sun and partial shade, yet the most abundant flowering comes in full sun.
• Soil: It readily takes chalk, clay, loam and sand of any pH, and is happiest on well-drained loams.
• Watering: Watering is medium, and established shrubs take slightly dry soil in their stride.
• Care: Prune in spring after flowering, and gently (RHS group 2): the flowers form on last year's shoots.
• Landscape use: It goes into hedges and flower borders, city and cottage gardens, wildlife gardens - and gives edible fruit as well.
• Origin: The cultivar is named after the American dendrologist Charles Sargent; the RHS also lists the synonym 'Pygmaea'.