Solved Any ideas what this shrub is?

I’ve seen this out walking its in a front garden & has nice red tips to the leaves just wondering what it is, it’s big about 8ft tall !

 

Looks like Chaenomeles japonica ( Japanese quince ) to me.

 

Ah ok thank you! I was wondering if it would have nice autumn colour ?

 

The best thing is the blossom which comes very early.

 

loses most of its leaves in winter, usually doesnt change colour. flowers early spring, makes hard fruit in autumn that you can cook into yummy jam called Membrillo. but its not self fertile

 

Mine flowered in the winter/ early spring and has fruit now. Self seeds all over the place . Maybe it's a different variety to the one you mention.

 

Adam 1 ....in UK they are self fertile.

BB3....Interesting.
I was in Cornwall in mid March in 2023 and they were in full flower then.
3 pics below
Never known them to seed around.

More pics...

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=11713966@N02&sort=date-taken-desc&text=CHAENOMELES&view_all=1

 

Hm ive seen many hedges with no fruit when theyre done with clones. Maybe they just didnt set that year. Ours gets plenty but there are many varieties nearby.

Interesting: Unlike apples and regular quinces, chaenomeles quinces are very rich in vitamin c. If only our ancestors had this to ward off winter scurvey!

 

I think we are talking about different plants.
Common names can be so confusing.
Chaenomeles ..common name Japanese quince.
While Membrillo is made from the large, hard, pear like fruits from the tree of Cydonia oblonga...the common name is Quince...see my pics below

Quince cheese - Wikipedia

It is also self fertile.You can plant just one tree and it will produce fruit without the need for another quince tree to pollinate it.
It produces its flowers in the summer.

.

 

@Silver surfer mine is south facing, sheltered and growing between paving slabs and a fence. It must have its own little microclimate.

 

Still thinking about this post.
I have never seen a hedge planted with Chaenomeles.
The thorns would certainly stop dogs/people from trespassing.
Adam I do please add a pic to this thread.
If it flowered it would look amazing.
Normally they seem to flower well when planted next to a wall in full sun but I have seen free standing ones.
Pic below taken at Kew gardens. 1st April 2025

 

@Silver surfer our neighbour has one on her front boundary and it's been pruned into a hedge. It looks exactly as you think it would and has quite a lot of fruit most years.

 

I see Chaenomeles japonica mostly around here as an untidy shrub that most people just neglect, it often has fruit on it but nobody seems interested in it.
I think they just like the flowers very early in the year.

Cydonia I have seen in the park and the fruit on that seems to disappear pretty rapidly.

 

There is the european or persian quince cydonia oblonga, the chinese quince pseudocydonia sinensis, and 4 chaenomeles species all from east asia. people call chaenomeles flowering quince, ornamental quince, oriental quince... yes common names are difficult!
All of them have hard edible fruit but only chaenomeles is intensely sour, and I can say from a taste sample of me and my neighbours that chaenomeles tastes the best! But the small fruit are harder to process. Only chaenomeles is rich in vitamin c, having as twice as much as a lemon per 100g (according to a paper I read).

Chaenomeles Cathayensis has fruit as big as the normal quince but I have only ever seen it at RHS Wisley and not for sale. Both C. Speciosa and Japonica are common here. Speciosa is bigger and I think has bigger fruit but I am not sure.

Our neighbours one today with fruit. i cook the fruit for them via the membrillo recipe in october. I have seen the fruit last the winter on the ground until march in cold weather.

I have a few grown from seed but they are still small. I tossed them in soil in autumn and they grew well in spring.

They are so common here I think they are just cross pollinating with other varieties. But maybe some varieties are self fertile, I dont know!