The first time I saw quince in flower and subsequently in fruit was when visiting our oldest son at Oxford University. It was growing against the sunny wall below a window. I knew of the quince because it was the fruit eaten, sliced, with a runcible spoon, by the owl and the pussycat in Edward Lear's poem of the same name. As we have moved, over the years, from the north of England to the south west of the country, we have seen more quince, in flower and in fruit, due to the more equable climate. The quince above, a flowering variety (Chaenomeles japonica), was in full flower in Herefordshire in the last week of February, the blooms appearing before the leaves, a mass of red growing on a fence.
photo © T. Boughen Camera: Nikon D5300
