I sort of casually asked this same question on an older thread with no luck so I’ll clink the glass and ask here.
Does anybody know where I can get plants or seeds of this - for fruit of course?
I can’t seem to find a reputable source in the US (many selling ‘it’ on ebay & amazon like everything else, to be avoided). I do see an outfit in either Italy or Bulgaria called ‘The Balkan Ecology Project’ that sells seeds but little else. Part of the problem is the overwhelming number of places selling seeds for flowers (plus all the internet scams matching any search term of course!).
I see Oikos sells seeds, but I think their target audience must be breeders or institutions because of the cost ($120).
Anybody have any ideas for a guy just wanting to plant 2 or 3 shrubs in the hedge (to make pigwówka)?
I haven’t read far enough yet to tell how true seeds come, nor how much use any flower cultivars might have for fruit, but finding some useful articles.
The more I read about this (best loved in Baltic region & S to Ukraine far as I can tell) the more I wonder why it seems to be ignored in most ‘grow weird fruit’ and ‘permaculture’ type books. It sure sounds like a nice little addition to a sunny hedge (or perhaps the autotranslation of the Polish websites has misled me).
I’m referring to the ornamental kind. (But I do have a 4 oz. jelly jar of jelly from the decorative kind given to me for fixing an old alumnus’ steps.)
Should be hardy for your zone. (But early blooms mean frosts often kill off any chance for fruits).
raintree sells ‘em. Flowering Quince — Raintree Nursery Its a common plant around old houses too. look for the red or pink flowers in spring and the wild rangey habit the rest of the year and maybe knock on the door? A lot of those aren’t great quality or don’t produce due to lack of a pollenizer, but some do.
I had good success with rooted cuttings from Fruitwood. I have Texas Scarlett and Jet Trail. They were more or less evergreen this year in Z6B, but I think our coldest night was around 4° F, very mild winter overall.
If you want them for fruit, I’d personally wait until autumn and look for plants with large fruit to take seeds or cuttings from. Many commercial cultivars are bred for showy flowers but will have tiny if any fruit. The Lithuanian Cido widely available in Europe being an exception. Flowering quince is really easy to propagate both ways and while it may seem that you will lose a season, you will spare yourself possible disappointment in a few years.
I am living in Switzerland and currently trying to grow new flowering quinces fromt cuttings. Tell you more later once I know wether it was worthy a try or not.
I do have multiple bushes in zone 6b that were grown from seeds from plants that are growing at my parents farm in Lithuania. The fruit scent is very sweet and distinctive. Taste is tart.
