Pomegranate

A few years ago, the local newspaper carried an article about the pomegranate and I rushed to the nearby garden center to find out if they had it.  A few other people had also read the article so the center had to make a special order and would call us to come and pick the pomegranates up.

The pomegranate is a deciduous small leaved bush or tree depending on how it is trimmed.  To leave the pomegranate as a bush, only a few trunks are trimmed and the "bush" shaped.  To leave it as a tree, most of the trunks are cut and only a few remain to let it take the form of a small tree.  It does not grow but a few meters tall.

The pomegranate originated in Iran and around those geographical areas with a rather warm and dry climate.  In 1769, the pomegranate was introduced to California by Spanish settlers.

Fruitless varieties are grown for the beautiful abundant red/orange flowers that covers the bush or the tree.

Fruit is in season from September through February in the Northern Hemisphere.  The edible fruit is at best the size between a lemon and a grapefruit.  The pomegranate bush or tree is treated very much as a citrus tree given the same type of fertilizer and watering.

The delicious but hard to get fruit is best eaten over the sink, but it is easier to score and cut the pomegranate into sections with a sharp knife and tap on the shell so that the seeds will fall out.  See if that works, and let me know.

Another way is to separate the seeds in a bowl of water:  the seeds sink and the inedible pulp float to the surface.

It remains to find out if we have a fruit bearing or an ornamental bush on the Back Forty Garden and Park.  Either way, it is rather beautiful with all it red/orange flowers.

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