Hi,
Nice pic, I recognise your name from the fig forum and see the fig in the background.I Have just planted a pomegranate for the first time in my fig block,variety 'wonderful'. I was told by the nursery people it would suffer if the temp dropped to -10c (14f). I guess I'll know in a couple of years wether it was a good idea. I'm 250km west of Sydney, Australia, latitude 34S, altitude 930m (3050ft).We have had frosts down to -7c and get a couple of falls of snow each year that usually melt within 24hrs.

Dave

Hi Dave,
I've been to your area a couple years ago, you are probably close to the blue mountain region.
Wonderful will survive in your area no problem. It's not the most cold hardy but with only -10°c it should be no problem.
I don't think that "wonderful" variety is the best tasting variety.

Bass

Great pictures, Bass. Its also great to see you can ripen them where you are which means I should not have any problems as I am south of you. I didn't put any in until last year so I have a ways to go before they fruit. I have the Russian Hardy from EL which is rumored to be Salatsvaki, plus Kazake etc.

Scott

hey bass, way to go! tell us more; how do they taste? are the seeds hard? how long have they been in ground? is there any protection from the wind?

thanks,

bob

Scott, I was worried it will not ripen before frost, but it did.
It tastes very sweet, better than wonderful I would say. My 1.5 yr old twins fought over them and loved them. The seeds are hard, but still edible. Usually cold hardy pomegranates have hard seeds. I've had it in ground for two winters. It's about 3 years old.
I have it planted against a wall, which i'm sure it gives some protection, but I don't wrap it like I do with figs. It had no winter damage the past two years.

Bass

Bass,
That is a beautiful pomegranate, I am very excited that you are able to grow that where you are located since I am also trialing that variety as well as kazake and a couple others. I plan on planting mine out this coming spring. BTW, the 'glaser' pawpaw I bought from you grew very well this year. Thanks for sharing all the info you do!

A few years of course does not demonstrate that a tree or shrub will live long term - unless a hard winter has occurred during that time. I have seen long-established pomegranates freeze down here in USDA 8. The specimens I have been observing took many years to rebuild tops of any size after the killing winter.

I agree that with only a few years it doesn't demonstrate the tree actual hardiness and adaptability to the area. What I can say is that this pomegranate had survived temperatures around 0°F or even lower with the wind chill. While the Wonderful pomegranate did not make it, this one had zero damage.
I wouldn't plant a commercial orchard of this variety of pomegranates in zone 6 yet.

Bass

Of course, there are always "extraordinary measures" to keep things going outside of their zone.

In my quest to grow all of the things I really shouldn't be growing in Michigan, I have done some fairly bizarre things over the years to keep plants alive. I dug a big trench one year, put some electric heating cable in it, buried a number of subtropicals (mostly palms, but also some other things like a bay laurel, some bottlebrush, and so forth), then covered with foamboard and leaves. That worked out pretty well except for some vole damage.

Something I haven't done yet is what this guy does in Utah. Very cool, though:

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter protection of large in-ground palm in Zone 4 Utah

Hello all,

I just posted a question about this same issue. I should have done better searching before posting. I am in Central Virginia Zone7 and THANK YOU everyone here. I had just ordered a "Wonderful" Pom tree and after reading this I am able to cancel the order before it ships - I will get one that is better suited to my zone because I want fruit - not just pretty leaves.

Thanks a million everyone!!!!!!!

DL

hey dancing lemmons, are you anywhere close to afton va? edible landscape is there.

there are other posts with guys in baltimore growing poms, look through some old posts & you'll see what works for them