Last weekend I paid a visit to the amazing private Giardino Torrigiani in the heart of Florence.  The chaenomeles japonica was in full bloom.  Oh, how I love this coral colored madness!

 

Japanese flowering quince shrubs are a heritage ornamental plant. These shrubs light up the spring with a brief, but memorably dramatic, floral display.

This species is an old one, and has been cultivated in Asia for thousands of years. A member of the rose family, it arrived in Europe and the United States in the 1800’s.