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mrclint_so_cal

Wonderful Pom

MrClint
10 years ago

Just wanted to share my Wonderful Pomegranate tree with any folks that are interested. This tree has been a bit of a challenge to make it submit to my will. It wants to be a bush, I want it to be a tree. It wants to weep, I want it be somewhat upright. I want to prune it, and it wants to stab me like a pin cushion in the process. :)

Be that as it may, here it is in its full frontal glory.

Comments (16)

  • MrClint
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here's a closer view of the trunk. My plan has been to prune it to a short trunk supporting three major branches. In reality it has two major branches and a minor one.

  • MrClint
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is a closer view of some blossoms of the under-appreciated Wonderful Pom.

  • Tony
    10 years ago

    Mr Clint,

    I hope 1/2 of those flowers set fruits for you. My hardy Russian about the same size as yours. My Wonderful is a little smaller than yours. I Just unwrapped them and they survived another winter in the ground zone 5A. The lowest temp this year in Omaha was -12F for couple of nights.

    Tony

  • Bradybb WA-Zone8
    10 years ago

    I can see partly why it's called Wonderful.That's a beauty.

  • Kevin Reilly
    10 years ago

    Yeah, Poms are beautiful. Wonderful tastes damn good too.... They mostly seem to want to be bushes though :)

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    10 years ago

    Very pretty, mrclint, I just adore their blossoms. My 'Wonderful' is almost twice the size of any of my other poms, it really does love growing in my area. If you drive around any established neighborhood here in San Diego county and look closely, you'll see a 'Wonderful' in many yards.

    Patty S.

  • mrsg47
    10 years ago

    Wow! What beautiful flowers. Wish they grew in RI. I might have to try Tony's method! Thanks for the pic. Mrs. G

  • MrClint
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the kind words everyone. I can't recommend 'Wonderful' highly enough to folks looking to plant a pomegranate tree (the price and availability are obvious advantages). If you want to plant one pom tree, this is the one. If you want to plant a few poms, plant this one and something earlier (Angel Red) and/or something later (?).

    This is really one of my pride and joy trees. Since poms bear fruit on new wood, you can prune the heck out of them when they are dormant. That's when you can deal with crossed branches and open the tree up to let light in, etc. When they flush out and bloom, it's like trying to tame the tide -- and every branch you snip at that point may be fruit you'll never see.

    This post was edited by mrclint on Wed, Apr 24, 13 at 23:10

  • yukkuri_kame
    10 years ago

    Pretty tree, Mr. Clint!

    Poms are wicked easy to propagate. I've got 30 or 40 little cuttings going right now.

    Unfortunately, I don't know the cultivar. It's from an old and productive tree. Wish I knew the cultivar so I could add diversity.

    There's a long driveway at my sister's place that I think would look impressive lined with a bunch of poms, though not much to look at when dormant.

    They've got a couple of acres that I could plant on, though plants won't get much care after getting established, so I think poms are perfect. Especially since I have no budget, but a good source for cuttings.

  • bamboo_rabbit
    10 years ago

    Sure is pretty in bloom but if you can only have one pom you can do a LOT better taste wise than Wonderful.

  • johnnysapples
    10 years ago

    It's a beautiful upright tree. After all that I think you have it cornered.

  • hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
    10 years ago

    MrsG, you can grow poms in RI! There are many, many Russian, Turkistan, etc. cultivars that grow in far colder climates than yours. Check out Rolling River for some of their great cultivars. They are very nice folks and give you some great recommendations for your area. I have 3 great "Russian" cultivars in my yard, Sur Ah Nor, Submar and Sirenevyi.

    Patty S.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Rolling River Pomegranates

  • john222-gg
    10 years ago

    you should be very proud your tree is beautiful.Where I live I fight with freezing weather have been trying for 4 years to grow a dissent pom ashamed to post picture.Thanks for sharing your picture.

  • manfromyard
    10 years ago

    I think they do much better in California, that's for sure. They're notorious for getting frozen out in GA. That is a beautiful tree though, very ornamental. Who says edibles can't be gorgeous as well?

  • rjinga
    10 years ago

    My MIL gave me a wonderful a few years back for my birthday, it was a decent sized tree when I got it, I put it into a big nursery container (like 2 ft of more in diameter). When the temps dropped, I carried it into the Greenhouse the first year and then after that, it got left out and was fine, each year it puts out a few more fruit. Last year I think I had 6 total, The tree is now probably 8 ft tall at least...This year it was a little slow to leaf out and I was worried maybe something had happened to it..

    The bad news, I'm the worst procrastinator on the planet and it got left in the big black pot, and grew into the ground...so it's impossible to move now short of excavating it...so I hope that it's ok indefinitely, (open to any thoughts on that topic).

    I also rooted about a dozen or so cuttings from a 50 year old tree in my MIL's neighbors yard, that was a few years ago too, before MIL gave me the tree...I have 4 small trees growing well. they are only about a foot tall. I repotted them recently into bigger containers. I don't know the variety of the tree but it has proven to be productive and thrives here in Ga. I may put the 4 I have in the ground, and I plan to get more cuttings soon and start again.

  • MrClint
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Wonderful is an old time favorite here locally too, as hoosierquilt pointed out. Really a can't miss tree in our area. If you pick them a little early they are surprisingly sweet, even before the arils color-up. If you let them sit for a long time, they develop a deep burgundy wine flavor. The biggest challenge is keeping critters away from the fruit.

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