This the second year in the ground for my Angel Red (it spent its first year from bare root in a large fabric "pot"). I'm growing it as a traditional horizontal cordon espalier. This year I have some blooms and already a couple of fruit set (I've been using a small brush to encourage pollination!). The lower two tiers are filled out and the upper two about half-way.

I should add that I don't live in ideal pomegranate territory. We have cool marine summers (overcast nearly all last week and so far this week) but the plant is doing amazingly well. It even went totally dormant this past winter (which poms here tend not to do). Looking good so far. Now to see if the fruit actually develops (and is edible...).

Thanks for sharing. The blossoms look beautiful. I would love to see a wide angle shot of your horizontal cordon espalier.

MrClint: Do you grow another variety of Pomegranate also? If so, which one?

I am trying to decide between Angel Red and Ever Sweet... I'm not sure if I should grow one of each or just one.

I have limited space, so I'm trying to be very thoughtful in my plant choices.

The Eversweet will be similar to your Moms plant; no acid, soft seeds, sweet. Why not get Angel Red and have something a little different....

My other pom is a 'Wonderful' which is an excellent variety here. The two poms compliments each other well. Wonderful has larger fruit and showier blossoms than Angel Red. But AR has much softer seeds and harvests a little earlier.

Here's my Angel Red after heavy Winter pruning, and just starting to leaf out in February:

This post was edited by mrclint on Tue, Jun 10, 14 at 23:30

MeLikeEatPlants:

My Mom has had her "White Pomegranate" tree for at least 6+ years now. It is probably 7-8 feet tall. But has been very poor in giving us fruit. I can probably count on one hand the number of pomegranates we've gotten in the last 6 years. She lives right next to the ocean, and moved into a home that had very heavy red clay soil. She built a raised bed to plant all of her plants in and had tons of top soil added. But no luck. She thinks it's because of her poor clay soil and the strong afternoon winds. When we have gotten fruit from the tree, it is delicious. Which is why I am considering growing the Ever Sweet... because it sounds very similar to what she has based on all the descriptions I've read online. I'm feeling like I will have better luck than her with growing pomegranates.

MrClint: Has it been a fast growing plant for you? How old do you figure your pomegranate tree is?

Steve_in_los_osos: How far apart did you plant your espalier Pomegranates? I have limited space, so I'm trying to figure out how close I could potentially plant them to create a living wall between me and my neighbor.

Here are some photos of my Angel Red Espalier. It is between two others (young pawpaw in shade structure and first year persimmon). The espaliers are all 8 ft. wide and about 5 ft. apart. They run north-to-south in a side yard that heats up nicely (when there is sun...) and gets very little sun during the winter, except for maybe some of the top tiers--which is fine because they don't need sun when dormant and the pawpaw will probably enjoy the extra chill from the winter shade.

I was checking the pom this morning and it seems I have at least three fruits definitely set. Whether they will hold on and/or actually ripen here by the bay remains to be seen. It's always an adventure!

What about AR taste? Does it live up to all the hype? I'm guessing it does not stand out that much since nobody mentioned anything about taste, only early ripening. I know the appearance and soft seeds were two more points being touted ever since this variety came on the scene.

fabaceae_native, Angel Red has excellent eating quality here. Guess I didn't state that fact clearly. It tastes very much like Wonderful, which is also excellent here.

CreatedToCook, poms grow quickly here. I heavily Summer prune to maintain size, and Winter prune to maintain desired shape and form. My Angel Red is about 4-5 years old now. It took a year or two to start bearing as did Wonderful.

Steve_in_Los_Osos:
Thank You for sharing those pictures. It is so fun and inspirational to see how your espaliers are coming along. I am definitely going to have to do this.

Do you have the Pom trimmed down to just a single trunk espalier??? Or did you allow it to grow as a multi-trunk espalier??? I couldn't quite tell from the picture.

I did a single trunk. I'd read that poms do better as informal "fans" but I didn't want that much disorder (!) and wasn't worried about maximum production. Here I need maximum air flow to minimize disease issues and maximum sun exposure (when there is any sun), so I opted for a simple horizontal cordon system. Persimmons have a similar new-wood bearing habit and the Aussies have been growing them commercially this way for awhile so I figured I would just follow their pruning strategy for those with the pom and see what happens. So far, so good!

Steve_In_Los_Osos:
Did you use cement to anchor in your Wood Posts for the Espalier? I had this idea of using some large empty Protein Powder tubs/buckets my husband has. Sticking the large wooden posts into the bucket and filling the bucket with cement to create like a heavy wide base for the tall wooden posts... kinda like a cement foot. Then I was going to proceed by burying the posts 1-2 feet in the ground. Did you do something similar? Or did you use a different technique?

Steve_In_Los_Osos:

I just realized I should bury the posts more like 2-3 feet in the ground for more stability. How deep did you bury your posts?

Let us know how that pawpaw works out.

You can just pour the concrete into the hole, it doesn't need a form unless you wanted a perfect circle or something.

I did not use concrete. I used a standard PT fence post and a post hole digger to go down 2-3 feet, then packed and watered the backfill. I also used a length of electrical conduit between the tops of the posts to discourage any drawing together as I tightened the wires. I've done the same thing for a trio of citrus in the back yard and they look fine after a few years. The lemon is almost completely filled in now and shows no sign of shifting.

There's a whole never-ending debate about fence posts and whether you should use concrete or not. I just didn't want to be bothered. The posts will eventually rot and need to be replaced so this way I won't have to wrestle with the concrete at that point. My take, anyway. Now when I build my kiwi trellis later this year......I might consider concrete :-)

@FN, the pawpaw is actually growing really well this season (second year in the ground) so I got a good deal for $10 from Gurneys. It lived where others before have died (in fact I have another $10 backup in the greenhouse and two smaller plants I started from seed myself last year--can you tell I don't trust pawpaws???). Unfortunately it did not branch after heading it back in the dormant season so I may end up trying the KNNN espalier approach rather than head it again and lose all the slow growth.

The flavor of 'Angel Red' is little bit milder and less tart than 'Wonderful', but still sweet. Also the seeds are noticeably softer. After tasting it, I really can see how "angelic" is a fitting description of this variety. Angel Red can produce some really BIG pomegranate fruits, but all the ones on my young tree are not so big.

The only downside of the Angel Red variety is supposedly that its seeds are sterile, so if you plop a seed into the ground you will probably not be able to get another pomegranate tree.

Angel Red pomegranate trees do not get that big either, 8-10 feet at most. That's only just a little bit bigger than the Red Silk variety.

I have one growing in a pot from monrovia...so far so good..see if it makes the inside transition during winter. Had 3 mini poms started but too them off for the tree to focus. MD Zone 7. Not native

I just had another Angel Red. It was a big beautiful red fruit, but the flavor was lacking (and it was not as sweet as I remember it last time). It's hard to say whether this is indicative of the variety, since there are so many factors that can affect fruit quality and flavor. Maybe the fruit should have been left on the tree another 2 weeks to ripen.

But on a more positive note, I found this review on TropicalFruitForum.com:

"Parfianka is considered by many as being the best tasting but this year, my first year with fruits, the Angel Red tasted better than the Parfianka. The Angel Red was sweeter and had better sugar acid balance to my palate. The Parfianka tasted like a Wonderful with very soft seeds. This could be because my trees are so young but remember that everyone's palates are different." - posted by simon_grow, December 27, 2013

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From what I have read, Angel Red is not really an exceptional variety among pomegranates, but it is an exceptional variety among the pomegranates that are ready to harvest in September. Therein lies the appeal of Angel Red to commercial growers, it is an early-producing variety; it's better than any other pomegranate variety commercially available in September. ( "Market Watch: New Angel Red pomegranate debuts in Southern California ", Los Angeles Times, David Carp, September 24, 2010 )

Most people seem to be saying that 'Angel Red' tastes like 'Wonderful' but with softer seeds.

Very interesting Parker… Definitely the early ripening of AR was one of the most appealing things from the get go. And, since Wonderful is so dominant in the US, even though the soft-seeded nature of AR is not at all unique, it would still be a new attribute for Americans in general. Growing pomegranates in a short-season area, early ripening is hugely important too!

Local Lowes had/has Monrovia AR marked down to $1 for 12"-30" plants. YMMV.

So jelly

I have a three year old Angel Red pomegrante . It is a very beautiful Pomegrante variety ; very green and leafy. Mine has turned out roundish which I like. They do grow alot every year so you need to prune them back so they won't get too big. The fruit is gorgeous. As far as the taste; I like the tart, sweet taste of the Wonderful Pomegrante. Also I was disappoited that the seeds were not a deep burgundy. They are two toned; light red and clear. They are tender; not so fibery. Good luck on your decision.

Here i have some clicks of my angle red pomegranate