On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 19:02:39 +0100, Victoria Clare wrote:

I'm not holding my breath for pomegranates...

Well, you should! pretentious harumph

There's a marvelous double pomegranate cultivar in the standard
scarlet-vermilion-orange-flame color that's worth seeking out.
Mine is about fifteen years old, only 2.5 meters high, or so,
lives against a south wall, and has survived even our coldest
weather when we get an outflow of Arctic air (temperatures down
to -10C). It flowers well every summer (better if watered), and
the leaves turn a beautiful clear yellow in the fall.

I admired this small tree (nearly a shrub) for many years in the
University of Washington's arboretum in Seattle, but was never
able to root a cutting. I finally found a very small plant of it,
which has done very well since planting out.

Once in a long while you can find a sort-of rose colored double
pomegranate in garden centers here, but it's not worth space. The
whole raison d'etre of the pomegranate lies in the color of the
flowers, unlike any other plant I know. (Some crocosmias come
close, but are not quite so glowingly brilliant.)

I suspect, but have never been able to verify, that a number of
other ornamental pomegranate cultivars are grown in California,
among them a double yellow.

So *do* hold your breath for pomegranates (sensu flore, not
fructu).

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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