Chaenomeles Double Delice Love - Japanese quince

Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Minchadf13225’ Love is a recent variety of Japanese Quince with magnificent, brilliant, bright red double flowers. Of medium size, about 1.50m, the shrub flowers early in spring on bare wood still devoid of leaves, and then flowering repeats a month later, amid the young leaves, which are a beautiful, clear green. It is very floriferous and also has the great advantage of being thornless. Undemanding, adapting to most soils, it grows in full sun, also tolerating partial shade. Very interesting in the garden, due to its double flowering, it also makes superb cut flower arrangements for indoors.

Quince is a member of the vast Rosaceae family, which includes 5000 species and over a hundred genera, grouping wild plants from our countryside and forests, ornamental plants (Cotoneaster, Amelanchier, Hawthorn...) and most of our temperate climate fruit trees (Plum tree, Apple tree...), as well as soft fruits like Strawberry. Quince is divided between flowering species (Chaenomeles) and a fruit-bearing one (Cydonia oblonga). The Chaenomeles genus comprises only four species, very close to each other, and a hybrid obtained by cross-breeding between two of these species.
The Love Quince is part of the horticultural range Double Delice® series and appeared on the market in 2025, after 12 years of work. This cultivar is particularly attractive for its many ornamental qualities and also because it bears no thorns. This is a great advantage over classic varieties, whose rather stiff branches can scratch your forearms when gardening around them. After 10 years of cultivation, this variety reaches about 1.50m in all directions, and can easily be kept in more compact dimensions by pruning once a year after flowering. From the end of winter, Chaenomeles speciosa Double Delice Love is very ornamental with its red flower buds that stand out visually on the almost black bare wood. They then open into superb double, cup-shaped flowers, 4 to 5 cm in diameter, composed of concave, overlapping petals. Their brilliant red colour is further enhanced by the heart of yellow stamens, and their beauty is reminiscent of some Camellias. The spectacle of the flowers displayed on the leafless branches is worthy of a Japanese print. Blooming for three weeks in March, the scarlet flowering announces spring in the most beautiful way.
In the event of a mild spring, a second flowering develops again in May. The shrub is then in full vegetation, dressed in its small oval leaves of a clear green, which provide a setting for the bright red corollas, thus forming a very attractive contrast. It even sometimes has a small repeat flowering in early autumn, according to the climate. A few yellow quinces can also occasionally develop in autumn, adding a final decorative touch. These edible fruits can be used to make jams.

The Double Delice Love Quince amazes and delights with its unprecedented repeat flowering. It is one of those plants that celebrate the arrival of spring with a flourish. To create a bed dedicated to early flowering, near the house, to enjoy it to the full, accompany your Quince with a Stachyurus praecox. This unusual shrub with a flexible habit is covered with countless clusters of small pale yellow flowers aligned like strings of beads in February and March. Its deciduous foliage additionally takes on superb autumn colours. Even earlier, two winter glories offer their fragrant flowers until March. The first is Chimonanthus praecox, which produces a multitude of sulphur-yellow, bell-shaped flowers. The second is Viburnum bodnantense 'Charles Lamont', with light pink flowers, and whose foliage takes on brilliant autumn colours. To complete your bed, consider planting various Hellebores at the edge, to flower in winter and spring.