Tree following May 2026 - there be quincelets

The blossom is over and so hopefully are the frosts, so we are now in that precious moment of time when the quincelets are setting.

This is when I hardly dare breathe in the direction of the quincelets.  It feels like anything could make them topple and fall.  I know that nature will take its course on this.  There is nothing I can do to make them stay on if they are not viable (superglue and stapling is cheating..... apparently.....).  Yet at this point in time I look at the Quince Brothers and see the potential for the year to come.

Except...

Except that's not quite true.  I think that Quince Minor has more quincelets than Quince Major.  I could see very few on Quince Major when I was checking the trees.  

I suspect this is because Quince Major now appears to be substantially in the shade of the large field acer in the side hedge to the garden.   This acer has grown substantially in the last fifteen years or so and the planting of other trees in the garden has increased the shade.  When Quince Major was planted he received plenty of sun, now I am not so sure.

Quince Minor also has some crowding issues.  He is now growing into a goodly sized tree, but is a little squeezed by the medlar tree and the Magnolia Leonard Messel.  Now obviously I knew when I planted them that they would all need space, but maybe I underestimated this a tad.  The medlar does get a regular pruning, its elbows push out into the garden and need trimming back routinely.  M. Leonard Messel has never been pruned and I am not particularly inclined to do so.  He is developing into a fine tree and I would not wish to disrupt his progress.  Unless I have to.

So I need to take a step back in the garden and look up.  I foresee some tree work in the Autumn just to keep things a bit more in control.

Until then dear quincelets, hang on.

The history of my quince-bothering treefollowing can be found here.

Take care and be kind.

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