Pronounciation: Pu-NEE-ka gra-NA-tum

Hardiness zones
Sunset 8-24
USDA 7-11

Landscape Use: Uses of this plant are cultivar dependent ranging from a small deciduous multiple trunk accent tree, garden fruit tree, background screen to dwarf formal hedge. Excellent for mesic and oasis designed landscapes and gardens with Spanish to oriental themes.

Form & Character: Formal, temperate, mesic, healthy, showy flowers and fall color!

Growth Habit: Deciduous, woody, broadleaf perennial shrub to small tree, slow to moderate growth rates depending on cultivated selection ranging from 3- to 30-feet tall with somewhat equal spread.

Foliage/Texture: Leaves are glabrous, light green in spring changing to deep green in summer, oblong to lanceolate to 4-inches long. Also, has stipular leaves; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Brilliant, waxy flowers with partially fused petals, crinkled, calyx purplish, fruits subglobose, red, 2.5 to 5 inches in diameter, reddish purple pulp.

Seasonal Color: Pomegranate produces a brilliant, festive display of white, apricot, coral, pink or vermillion-red flowers in April to May. Also, it displays a fiery yellow to orange fall color in more temperate climates and even some years in Phoenix (this image is from December 2010).

Temperature: Well-adapted, completely tolerant of Phoenix heat and cold.

Light: Full sun to partial shade.

Soil: Tolerant of alkaline soils.

Watering: Regular watering, though will survive handsomely under drought conditions.

Pruning: Can be pruned in many ways depending on cultivar and landscape use. Just remember to always prune after flowering and not before. If grown for fruit production, then generally do not prune.

Propagation: Softwood and hardwood stem cuttings, hardwood cutting root the easiest.

Disease and Pests: Aphids on succulent growth, spider mites.

Additional comments: Pomegranate is is a truly excellent deciduous landscape shrub for the Phoenix area.

There are over 150 cultivated selections of pomegrante in America’s official pomegranate collection in Davis, California.

Some cultivars that are used locally include:

• 'Alba' (unique white flowering cultivar with white fleshy fruits)
• 'Angel Red' (moderate grower that produces fruits with high jiuce content)
• 'Chico' (red flowering, dwarf cultivar for a small deciduous edging or hedge, low fruit quality)
• 'Fleshman' (large, roundish fruit, 3 inches in diameter, pink outside and in, very sweet flavor, seeds relatively soft)
• 'Legrelli' (coral colored, double flowering, sterile)
• 'Nana' (red flowering, dwarf cultivar for hedge, low fruit quality)
• 'Nochi Shibari' (orange peach, double flowering, sterile)
• 'Sweet' (fruits slightly greenish with a red blush when ripe, pink juice, sweet flavor)
• 'Tayosho' (apricot colored, double flowering, sterile)
• 'Wonderful' (large robust grower with large crimson red fruits, most commonly grown. Originated in Florida and first propagated in California in 1896.)

Ethnobotanical factoids: Pomegranate fruits have many health benefits. Pomegranate trees are mentioned many times in the Bible.