Pomegranate    

Fertilize in Early Spring

Collect the seeds from a ripe fruit and remove the red pulp. Dry the seed for 24 hours and then clean of the remaining dried pulp. Sow at once. The seeds germinate easily and can be started any time of year indoors, in pots, with a little warmth. Transplant the seedlings when large enough to handle into well drained compost.

The plants are at home in a Mediterranean type climate but can be grown in zone 8 or 9 against a warm wall. Hardy to around -10C if roots are kept from becoming waterlogged in winter. Can also be grown in pots and moved to a more protected site to overwinter

Pomegranate is grown for the flowers and the edible fruit. Pomegranate rind is also useful. This is the dried pericarp of the fruit, and has been used as a treatment for diarrhoea. It is very astringent, this accounts for the bitter taste when accidentally eaten with the red seeds, it also contains tannins.

These plants have been known to grow well alongside Pomegranate so consider planting:

These plants will not grow well with Pomegranate so avoid planting these within close proximity:

These problems, diseases and pests are known to affect Pomegranate plants:

Spider mite

Mealybugs can be dislodged with a soapy water solution. Soapy sprays are also helpful.³

The name “pomegranate” derives from Latin pomum (“apple”) and granatus (“seeded”). This has influenced the common name for pomegranate in many languages (e.g., German Granatapfel, seeded apple). The genus name Punica is named for the Phoenicians, who were active in broadening its cultivation, partly for religious reasons. In classical Latin, where “malum” was broadly applied to many apple-like fruits, the pomegranate’s name was malum punicum or malum granatum, the latter giving rise to the Italian name melograno, or less commonly melagrana.
A widespread root for “pomegranate” comes from the Ancient Egyptian rmn, from which derive the Hebrew rimmôn, and Arabic rummân. This root was given by Arabs to other languages, including Portuguese (romã), Kabyle rrumman and Maltese “rummien”. The pomegranate (‘rimmôn’) is mentioned in the Bible as one of the seven fruits/plants that Israel was blessed with, and in Hebrew, ‘rimmôn’ is also the name of the weapon now called the grenade. According to Webster’s New Spanish-English Dictionary, “granada,” the Spanish word for “pomegranate,” could also mean “grenade.” According to the OED, the word “grenade” originated about 1532 from the French name for the pomegranate, la grenade. La grenade also gives us the word grenadine, the name of a kind of fruit syrup, originally made from pomegranates, which is widely used as a cordial and in cocktails. ¹

The pomegranate is native to the regions from Persia to the Himalayas and has been cultivated in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and the Mediterranean region for several millennia.
In Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, there are wild pomegranate groves outside of ancient abandoned settlements. The cultivation of the pomegranate has a long history in Transcaucasia where decayed remains of pomegranates dating back to 1000 BC have been found. The Kur-Araz lowland is the largest area in this region where pomegranate is cultivated. Carbonized exocarp of the fruit has been identified in Early Bronze Age levels of Jericho, as well as Late Bronze Age levels of Hala Sultan Tekke on Cyprus and Tiryns. A large, dry pomegranate was found in the tomb of Djehuty, the butler of Queen Hatshepsut; Mesopotamian cuneiform records mention pomegranates from the mid-Third millennium BC onwards. It is also extensively grown in South China and in Southeast Asia, whether originally spread along the route of the Silk Road or brought by sea traders.
The ancient city of Granada in Spain was renamed after the fruit during the Moorish period. Spanish colonists later introduced the fruit to the Caribbean and Latin America, but in the English colonies it was less at home: “Don’t use the pomegranate inhospitably, a stranger that has come so far to pay his respects to thee,” the English Quaker Peter Collinson wrote to the botanizing John Bartram in Philadelphia, 1762. “Plant it against the side of thy house, nail it close to the wall. In this manner it thrives wonderfully with us, and flowers beautifully, and bears fruit this hot year. I have twenty-four on one tree… Doctor Fothergill says, of all trees this is most salutiferous to mankind.” The pomegranate had been introduced as an exotic to England the previous century, by John Tradescant the elder, but the disappointment that it did not set fruit there led to its repeated introduction to the American colonies, even New England. It succeeded in the South: Bartram received a barrel of pomegranates and oranges from a correspondent in Charleston, South Carolina, 1764. Thomas Jefferson planted pomegranates at Monticello in 1771: he had them from George Wythe of Williamsburg. ¹

Some scientists also believe the pomegranate to have been the Forbidden Fruit in the Bible, instead of the “humble” apple. ²

In Jewish Mythology the seeds of the pomegranate are considered a fertility charm and are a part of the traditional Jewish New Year (Rosh HaShannah) dinner.

Double red flowering pomegranate, Favorite pomagranate, Wonderful Pomegranate, Pomagranate

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomegranate
fn2. http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=3001
fn3: Success With Houseplants, Packet 21