Charlie Pridham wrote:
Cydonia oblonga - AKA Quince tree, there are named fruiting varieties
to be had so you may as well buy one of those rather than a seedling.
'Early Prolific' and 'Meach's Prolific' are two I have seen do well
but there are around a dozen varieties available so a google search
may be a good idea in case some do better in some areas than others.

Thank you! Saved)

On 5/12/07 12:54, in article ,
"Charlie Pridham" wrote:

In article ,
says...
On 5/12/07 11:44, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
June Hughes writes:
|
| I don't think I shall put mine to the test, especially as Sacha has made
| the jelly and didn't like it. The flowers are lovely for the table in
| spring, though.

Yes. It is worth trying if you like sharp preserves, and it can be
used instead of apple together with blackberry.

| PS Tiptree do a lovely quince jelly but I should imagine they make
| theirs from the large hard, pale yellow fruit. I shall stick to that.

Yes, they do. And Bonne Maman. True quince is a lot more aromatic
and less acid than Japanese quince.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I've eaten that often in France but don't recall seeing it here. Now I know
about it I'll go looking for it, because that I really do love. The true
quince tree is a thing of great beauty, IMO and the older they are, the
better. A friend of ours has one in a courtyard which fills the entire
space. It must be getting on for 100 years old, I should think and it's
truly lovely, with huge golden fruits and wonderful gnarled branches.


Ours used to be my favourite plant, sadly since removing its roots from
my drains it now developes mildew on the leave each summer then
defoliates and barely sets a crop, I know they like damp places, but did
not realise they would object so strongly to dry ones.
Still anywhere thats not dry I think they make a wonderful small tree
with silver leaves and large showy flowers in spring, yellow autumn
leaves and yellow fruits which if you leave them till they drop make the
whole garden smell wonderful, plus of course they polinate any other
pears you may be growing.

Actually, there's a lot there I didn't know, Charlie! I didn't know about
the water, for a start. Our friend's quince is at the bottom of a very
steep garden so there is a lot of water run off *and* there's a stream
running through the immediate area of the quince. On top of that there were
some very old pear trees lining his drive which led to the area the quince
was in. I begged a reprieve for the pear trees for several years but they
had to go eventually but I bet he didn't know quince would pollinate pears!
He never did anything with the fruits, so I used to take them to decorate
the church for Harvest Festival and they were always greatly admired and I'm
sure taken home afterwards to be made into jellies.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'