Flowering quince, can anyone explain them to me?

I have had a contorted quince for a number of years now and I find it's growth habits completely baffling. Since it is a hardy plant it lives outside year round. Now going into winter I find my quince eagerly pushing new growth and blooms. I have done no pruning to it and have not fertilized for sometime now. I'm in Oregon, so my days are quite short right now and the air temperature is between 40 and 60 degrees. Where is this plant getting it's "grow" signal. I'm worried that soon it will frost and I'll risk damage to the plant if I leave it to its own devices.

Additionally even though the plant is deciduous mine rarely loses its leaves. Anyway, i am eager to hear the community's quince thoughts.

Cordon

P.S. Once it blooms I'll post some pics.

i am similarly baffled by mine... but here in wisco, we are having quite the unusually pleasant autumn...

Flowering Quince - genus Chaenomeles, normally do have two seasons of growth. Spring and late summer into winter. This is normal behavior for a healthy quince.

Plants that are forest understory and forest edge plants can have a pattern of growing in autumn, taking advantage of the increase in light when most trees drop their leaves.

If you quince is flowering - that is a sign of good health. Enjoy it, don't worry about it. In Oregon, they should be fully winter hardy without much protection. Leaves are freeze tolerant to some extent, they can be evergreen in a mild climate. It is normal for a quince to have blooms scattered off and on all winter. If you are not at high elevation, Oregon's coldest weather won't be likely to harm the flower buds, and on warm days in winter the flowers may pop open, for you to enjoy.

Kevin, in his more severe Wisconsin weather should give it some protection, perhaps in his garage for the winter. It may bloom off and on even in the dark winter storage area. That is normal.

I winter my quinces in a dark well house, and often find spent blooms I missed while the door was closed.

I find Chojubai to be less hardy than Toyo Nishiki, and I protect it from temps below 25 F. Toyo Nishiki in large 5 gallon nursery pots seem winter hardy to temperatures well below zero F. In bonsai pots they need some protection. I keep them with the Chojubai.

Leo Schordje wrote:I keep them with the Chojubai.

chojubai envy.

i want one.

bad.

but can not afford anything more than a stick-in-a-pot.
and i swore those off... along with moon-shine and whoores.

Kevin,

we are 2 degrees off our target at 72 deg.F at night instead of 70 deg.F.
Waiting for the drop, but the crop time breezes have begun.
Merry Christmas.
Santa Khai.

Cordon - I live in S. Oregon, but at about 4200 feet (1280 m), in zone 6b-7a. We had a good deal of snow this year which nicely protected my flowering quince seedlings. We've had a lot of rain and recently daytime temps have reached around 50F (10C). My quince look a bit bedraggled, but their leaves remained mostly green throughout the winter (despite being under snow).

I too have noticed growth being pushed in the fall once the summer heat is no longer in effect. I was a bit concerned with their amount of autumn growth in the previous year and decreased their fertilization a bit earlier this last year. Despite this they continued to push new growth until we dropped into regularly freezing weather.

My main point is to say they are strong growers as others have mentioned.

Mine have bloomed winter, Spring, Summer and Fall

kevin stoeveken wrote:

Leo Schordje wrote:I keep them with the Chojubai.

chojubai envy.

i want one.

bad.

but can not afford anything more than a stick-in-a-pot.
and i swore those off... along with moon-shine and whoores.

You should check out Gregory Beach Bonsai. Don has them at reasonable prices and also sells them on ebay bids start at 1 cent no reserve.
He puts them up on BNut all of the time.

yeah mike, i have looked at his site before... but just on his website...

i am glad to know that almost $400 is considered reasonable (and its even on sale) for this little guy:



i guess i will have to do without

I got two small ones, (a red and a white) a couple of years ago for thirty pesos apiece......killed 'em......

The in-ordinate hurt - monetary expense was very in-ordinate....$&#@'er...



Gregory Beach has some great material. Yep, pricey.


I'm gonna get some more. Kevin, you'll get some cuttings!!!!!

i have been in contact with don at gregory beach in michigan and evergreen garden works in cal...

small cuttings are MUCH more affordable and that is the route i will be going...

Just throwing it out there Kevin.
I don't know why these are so expensive for sure but I imagine it's because they might grow slow. I don't know.

yep... slow and not likely to develop a thick trunk in a normal persons life time  
(according to what i have read)

Hello, Kevin!

kevin stoeveken wrote:y... ...i guess i will have to do without

Haven't you considered a normal nursery for garden plants in order to start your own "bonsai to be"?
This is how I've started mine, which at the moment is offering me her second bloom!

Alexandra !
hope you are well !

i actually do have other, garden centre variety quince, but i have never seen chojubai at any nurseries in my area

My mistake, didn't notice you are after of a chojubai, Kevin.

Not so well lately...
I've had a comminuted fracture of upper end of humerus and you know how it is.... I'm still on the wait until it shows whether it starts agglutinate.

Can anyone, please, tell me what the difference is between an ordinary garden cultivar quince and the chojubai?
Thank you!