I have wild roses growing in the area where I planted quince bushes 5 years ago. I never have planted wild roses and neither have my adjacent neighbors. How would these wild roses be growing there? Stray seeds? Would the quince plants have been grafted onto wild rose roots?

I suspect the wild roses (Rosa multiflora) came to your yard by way of birds dropping seeds from the rose fruit or “hips.” Your next-door neighbors don’t need to have wild roses for the birds to find the tasty 1/4-inch fruit, which appears in August through winter. They then travel to the densely protective, shrubby nature of your quince to enjoy their meal. The fruit’s small size makes it great “take-out” bird food. Because both Rosa multiflora and quince are in the rose family (Rosaceae), they flourish in similar growing conditions and share a number of plant attributes. The named cultivars of flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) are propagated by softwood cuttings, dipped in root stimulus compound, and planted in peat-perlite mix. Seed collection from named varieties is also a means of propagation for quince, but grafting is not.