Japanese Quince 'Crimson and Gold'

Japanese Quince 'Crimson and Gold' is a striking ornamental shrub that also produces edible fruit. It is celebrated for its dazzling display of deep crimson-red flowers with golden centres, appearing on bare stems in late winter to early spring, providing vital early nectar for pollinators. Following the flowers, it produces small, hard, aromatic yellow-green quinces that are too astringent to eat raw but are excellent cooked, making superb jellies and preserves, often used to flavour apple pies. This thorny, spreading shrub is very hardy and performs well across the UK. It prefers full sun to partial shade and well-drained soil, and can be grown as a specimen or trained against a wall.

Sun: Full sun to partial shade.

Soil: Well-drained loam.

Hardiness: H6 — down to −20°C.

Flowering: Feb, Mar, Apr.