AusBonsai

Clearing a garden for a friend and came across this large shrub 30 + years old lots of straight branches around the outside, is it a Quince and is it worth saving cuttings, digging out?? Peter

Initially I thought malus, but spikes and flower group had me leaning towards quince as well.

Yes spikes are 4cms long and all over , flowers are 4 or 5 ? petals and yellow in the centre.

Certainly looks like Chaenomeles/ flowering quince

TimS wrote:Certainly looks like Chaenomeles/ flowering quince

Yes I agree - "Chinese Flowering Quince"

Another vote for Chaenomeles from me. These usually grow as a multi stem shrub. Flowers come out right at the end of winter, usually before there are leaves on the plant so they show up really well. Some have white flowers, some pink and some reds. There are also single and double varieties. Some have wicked spines while other varieties have few and are much more friendly to work with.
Most of the stems will have a few roots at the base so you can dig single trunks and transplant or take a larger section with several stems. They even grow when the stems have few or no roots visible and root quite easily from stem cuttings. A whole clump will probably take quite a bit of digging and then even more pruning but may yield something with good potential (or several with good potential if you split the clump)

Tend to be quite slow to thicken and develop ramification so don't expect to develop a breathtaking bonsai in a few years. These are definitely for the stayers. Treeman has posted some comments and pictures of some of his chaemomeles bonsai if you want to find some tips.

Thanks Shibui, good description I’ll see how we go digging Peter