Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Farewell Quince, Cydonia oblonga

A garden is all about changes. Some changes are day by day, season by season. Other changes are based on the whims of the gardener.  Years ago I planted Quince in my zone 4 garden.  The quince survived our cold winters and hot dry summers, but the flowers and forming fruit could not stand up to our ice balls that fall from heaven with a force as if tipped over by a huge wheel barrow from the sky. Hail! Last year we had 5 hail storms. The quince had to go! Not that I didn’t try to save it. I once had a bit of an arbor over it. I tried covering the fruit with paper sacks. I have discovered that the quince along with plants with big leaves do not fare well in hail storms. So this is a farewell blog to my quince. Ted says it went the way of our peach tree and apricot tree. The poor peach tree in the August of 2005 hail storm scarcely had a bit on its stems and trunk that weren’t beaten up. That year our town was called an insurance disaster as most roofs were damaged and needed re-roofing. Our home’s roof went from a boring gray to a lovely green. 
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Spring time. The little tree was several years old, but never got very big.

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Such a pretty flower. Quince is susceptible to fire blight. Fire blight makes the stems look dark, like they were in a fire.
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During this summer’s Garden Walk I bagged the little fruit. William Baffin Rose arches over the gate
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This was a strange little worm-like creature. I found it climbing on leaves. If you look closely it has a dark stripe along it’s length. It just sort of curled around. I put it back on a leaf. All things have their purpose. Does anybody know what it is?

11 comments:

  1. Goodbye to your quince. I've wanted one ever since I saw interesting gnarled old cydonia trees at the Cloisters medieval-style walled gardens in New York City. I give you credit for trying this lovely fruit in your challenging climate! Too bad.

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  2. Hi Laurrie -Thank you - last year we went to California and a friend sent me home with a large sack of quince - I made a lemon-quince sauce. I canned some and still have a jar or two.

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  3. It's sad to see a tree go that you really like, but it sounds like the hail is really strong there. I can't imagine it being that bad.
    That worm thing - I saw those in my garden last winter and looked them up. If it's the same thing I had it was beneficial but I can't remember the name of it anymore.

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  4. I think as gardeners we all sooner or later have a plant that despite our most valiant efforts, simply won't thrive in our gardens. It's unfortunate to say farewell to the quince, but I'm sure its replacement will be even more beautiful. Have you decided what to plant in its place?

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  5. Sorry your tree has to go. I bet you've already got something in mind as a replacement. This is the great thing about gardening. There's always change.

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  6. I think quince is a lovely shrub, and I know you will miss it. The fruit is interesting - surely the sourest fruit on earth! I think most gardeners have had to say good buy to plants that just couldn't make it, but this allows room for something else that will hopefully do better!

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  7. Hi Catherine, the hail was crazy this year. Some years it is not so bad. This summer we also had a straight wind that uprooted trees all over town - KI thought the worm thing might be a beneficial, I think most bugs in a balanced garden are.

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  8. Clare, I already planted a couple of Royal raspberries that a friend an neighbor gave me. I guess they grow large healthy fruit in this climate.

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  9. Hi Grace, yes a large purple-red raspberry - raspberries do so well here!

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  10. Hi Deb, yes the quince was something different. When I removed the quince I was able to do all sorts of changes in rock paths and the whole area, so it was a good thing.

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  11. Hi Gloria, does this post mean you are not getting snow like the others? By the way the worm you posted there looks like an art piece, but it's so long and scary. BTW, i wonder why my sidebar blogroll is changing for some and not the others, yours didn't update for a long time, so i am not frequent visiting here.

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