Chaenomeles

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Chaenomeles - winter-hardy woody light-loving plant from the Rosaceae family. The second name is Japanese quince (this name is due to the fact that the chaenomeles fruits are very close in shape to quince).

Description

Chaenomeles is a relatively small tree or shrub with simple leaves that persist for a long time in large stipules and with huge fragrant flowers.

Chaenomeles flowers can be not only simple, but also double, and they are located on the branches quite chaotically - both singly and in spectacular bunches, each of which includes from two to six flowers. Chaenomeles blooms for a long time and very abundantly - you can admire its magnificent flowering for almost a whole month!

The shape of the fruits of this plant can be as varied as you like - from pear-shaped to apple-shaped. And the surface of these fruits can be both ribbed and smooth, while their diameter ranges from three to five centimeters, and sometimes even larger specimens are found. Harvesting chaenomeles is very problematic: its fruits are not only located in the very depths of the bushes, but are also reliably protected by the thorns decorating the shoots! At the same time, up to nine kilograms of fruit can be collected from one bush.

In total, the genomeles genus includes four species.

Where grows

Chaenomeles is quite widespread in Japan, as well as China and distant and mysterious East Asia.

Usage

Chaenomeles is grown primarily as a highly demanded fruit crop. It is widely used in landscape design, and especially often it can be seen as part of spectacular compositions of perennial flowers and a wide variety of woody plants. There are indeed quite a few varieties of beautiful chaenomeles bred exclusively for decorative purposes, and this cannot but rejoice - all these varieties can boast of absolutely various sizes and colors, and their flowering times are also not the same. And chaenomeles is also successfully used for the formation of flowering low-growing borders or hedges.

Growing and caring

Chaenomeles should be planted in the sun, trying to choose areas where a sufficiently large amount of snow accumulates in winter, reliably protecting the branches of this plant from frost damage. This culture will grow and develop well on any, but, what is important, cultivated soils (mainly garden), which are not characterized by stagnant moisture. And the most ideal option for chaenomeles will be light loams, characterized by a slightly acidic soil reaction.

In leaving, chaenomeles is very undemanding. He is very responsive to regular feeding, both with mineral fertilizers and organic matter. It should be watered only when drought is established.

Chaenomeles also requires systematic pruning, which consists mainly in thinning, that is, in removing weak and small shoots located in the very depths of the bushes, as well as in eliminating old shoots that are more than five or six years old. And in order to rejuvenate the plant, the shoots are cut out completely. At the same time, one should not forget that the main fruiting of chaenomeles is concentrated on three-year branches.

Most often, chaenomeles is propagated by seeds, and this can be done both in autumn and spring. And large-fruited and especially productive varieties are usually propagated vegetatively - by root shoots, as well as by layering or summer cuttings.

By the way, chaenomeles seedlings can act as dwarf rootstocks for a number of apple and pear varieties, as well as for some forms of hawthorn and even for garden rowan!