Have you ever walked boldly up to a quince and given it a good sniff? Invited it home to your kitchen and allowed it to sit there and quite steal the show for weeks? If you haven’t, then you need to start flirting with a quince as soon as you possibly can.

Here’s the attraction: Lovely, lush, dark green foliage on a tree that gently weeps downwards. Beautiful (and, though this blog is prone to falling head over heels with many, many plants like a confused teenager, we really mean beautiful) flowers in the spring, and, best of all, curious lemon-coloured, pear shaped and out-of-this-world-scented fruits in late summer and autumn.

So, have you ever caught the scent of a ripe quince? If you’re not sure, then you’ve missed one of the finest perfumes the fruit and veg patch can offer. A deep, rich, spicy, sweet scent. And the flavour ain’t half bad either, although don’t expect to reach up into the tree, pick a fruit and take a bite as you are standing there. Quinces are not apples and they are not pears. They are rarely palatable uncooked. Just as well, really, as the jellies, baked fruits and spreads that the fruits make are too spectacular to miss. There’s also a recipe for a Lamb and Quince tagine in Mark Diacono’s book A Taste of the Unexpected.

Plant a quince tree in the warmer part of your garden: sunny and next to a south-facing wall if you can. This is not a tree for frost pockets or bleak spots. You also don’t need to prune this tree particularly enthusiastically, save for removing dead or diseased wood.

The fruits will be ready in the autumn: you can pick them before they are fully ripe and leave indoors to enjoy their superb scent.

If you fancy a quince of your own, Victoriana Nursery Gardens sell ‘Champion‘, which is disease-resistant. And if you visit their site using this link, you’ll automatically get 10% off your whole order. That’s how we look after our readers.