These easy to grow fruiting and ornamental trees deserve to be much more widely planted in our landscpes. Quince's strikingly beautiful, large white flowers are followed by very large, waxy yellow, highly fragrant fruit which is used for baking and in preserves. Our Ukrainian varieties are unique for their tender and mild flavored fruit which can be eaten fresh. Quince are self-fertile, happy in full to half day sun, adaptable to most soils and hardy to at least minus 25°F. Naturally compact, they rarely exceed 10 feet in height.
Grown for thousands of years in Europe and then brought to North America by European settlers, Quince was prized as a delicious and valuable, vitamin rich food. It’s long storage life and a source of tasty preserves made it particularly valuable before refrigeration was available.
A classic Turkish variety, Smyrna bears abundant, very large, aromatic fruit with lemon-yellow skin and pale yellow tender flesh.
A Luther Burbank creation, Van Deman bears large, waxy yellow, oblong and aromatic fruit with a pleasant spicy flavor.