Southern Gardening 01292026

Flowering quince is a deciduous shrub that blooms on bare wood when most of the landscape is still gray.

 Eddie Smith MSU Extension

One winter-blooming shrub that feels familiar and comforting to me is the flowering quince. This plant quietly becomes part of the family landscape, showing up year after year without ever demanding much attention.

My grandmother’s flowering quince has been growing for more than 30 years, and every January and February, it stops me in my tracks with its brilliant red blooms. In 2016, I took my first photo of its flowers, trying to capture something I had admired since childhood.

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