Double Take Peach™ Flowering Quince

If you've avoided flowering quince because of the thorns, Double Take Peach™ (Chaenomeles speciosa 'NCCS4') changes everything. This Proven Winners® selection delivers all the knockout spring color of old-fashioned flowering quince with fully double peachy-pink blooms, but the stems are completely thornless. That means you can cut armloads of branches for arrangements without getting scratched, and you can plant it along walkways or near play areas without worry.

Spring Color That Stops Traffic

In early to mid-spring, before the leaves fully emerge, branches become completely covered in soft peach-colored double blooms. The color sits beautifully between coral and blush pink, warm enough to glow but soft enough to pair with everything from butter-yellow daffodils to hot pink tulips. Each flower looks like a miniature rose, and the show typically lasts three to four weeks. As a bonus, Double Take Peach often surprises you with a lighter rebloom in fall when temperatures cool.

Compact and Carefree

This quince stays naturally rounded at 4-5 feet tall and wide without constant pruning. The upright, slightly spreading habit makes it easy to use in mixed borders, foundation plantings, or massed as a low informal hedge. Once established, it shrugs off summer heat, tolerates drought, and rarely has pest or disease problems. Deer typically leave it alone, and it blooms reliably even after harsh winters.

Landscape Versatility

Use Double Take Peach as a focal point in a mixed border where its spring fireworks take center stage, then let perennials and later-blooming shrubs carry the show through summer. It works beautifully in groupings of three or five for serious impact. The thornless stems also make this an excellent choice for cutting gardens. Force branches indoors in late winter by cutting stems when buds begin to swell and placing them in water.

This is spring color you can count on year after year with almost no effort. If you want a flowering shrub that delivers maximum drama with minimum maintenance, Double Take Peach belongs in your garden.