Yardsmart-home: Quince ensures explosion of color

I always know when it is Chinese New Year because the huge urn of flowering quince appears in my local grocery store window in California. The store is owned by Chinese immigrants who cut the limbs from their bare, dormant shrubs to bring indoors. When set into warm water in a heated room, the flower buds open prematurely, covering the twigs in lush coral-red blossoms -- a welcome burst of color during a long, dark winter.