Pomegranate is a species of deciduous shrubs and trees, usually grown for their amazingly bright red flowers and their yellow to orange through to red fruits which ripen and become edible in warm climates. But beware it does have spikes unlike the Roses thorn.
The Pomegranate needs a sheltered, sunny position and a well drained soil. They are easily propagated by using the semi ripe cuttings in the summer months or by seed in the spring time.
The fruit is rounded and funnel shaped and is full of lovely tasting bright pink-red fleshy seeds. To eat this delicious fruit you just break it open and eat it! Sometimes you may find the very ripe Pomegranates already split so just break it in half and eat the insides.
My grandmother had one growing in her garden; it was usually laden with fruit and was always very tempting to us kids! The fruit was attractive to the eye and tasted so sweet but our grandmother would warn us not to eat too many as it would spoil our dinner!
The dog too had it down to a fine art! She would totally clean the pomegranate out by darting her tongue in and out of a slightly cracked piece of fruit without destroying it and leaving the empty shell for one of us to find.
The tree requires a tidy up pruning after it has shed its foliage. They are not an orchard tree but look great in a garden, they are very colourful and slow growing.
The botanical name for this wonderful tree is: Punica.