I have flowering quince that has gone out of control due to several years of neglect. In a perfect world, it would be nice to have this be a small shrub or trained onto a fence (since it is growing near a fence, but not trained onto it currently). I am looking for suggestions on how to renovate the quince to either be trained onto the fence or into a small shrub. Should I cut it down to the ground, and restart? Alternatively, should I try to prune several canes to the ground and try to trim using a hedge trimmer to get it back in shape? For either of these options, when would be the best time to do it? Thanks for your help.
Can I just check that by flowering Quince you are talking about Chaenomeles. http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=ch...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1242&bih=529 As opposed to Cydonia oblonga. The true Quince. http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=Cy...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1242&bih=529
Is that flowering quince also refered to as "Japonica"?????????????? If so I just prune it (hack :). It seems to just get going in a big way. I have also seen them hedged. Liz.
Yes. Chaenomeles japonica is known as Japanese Quince./ Japonica http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=Ch...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1242&bih=529 More commonly grown here is Chaenomeles speciosa. http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=Ch...&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1242&bih=529
