It’s the start of a vacation weekend, and I wanted to begin my break a bit early. So I went to two of my favorite nurseries today, in search of a pomegranate tree. Here are some details I found online:

A fruit-bearing tree, or rather shrub, of the myrtle family, which is cultivated through all the warmer parts of the Old World, from Northern India through Persia, and in all the  countries bordering on the Mediterranean. It is indigenous in North Africa and Southern France, and flourishes in Bermuda and many of the West Indian islands.

It is evergreen, and forms rather a collection of small stems…than a single tree, nor does it often exceed eight or ten feet in height. The leaves are lanceolate, glossy, and small, of a very delicate greenish-red color. . . . The bell-shaped blossom is extremely beautiful and conspicuous, varying from scarlet to a deep orange-red, and the fruit, when ripe, is of a bright red color, as large as an orange, and crowned with its calyx, which adds much to its grace of form. It continues to throw out a succession of blossoms from March to June. There are two sorts cultivated in orchards, the sweet and the sour, contrasting in taste like the orange and lemon, though the appearance of the fruit is precisely similar.

The first stop was Lone Pine Gardens. They specialize in bonsai and succlulents. They had several beautiful bonsai in full bloom, but I grabbed a one gallon stock plant they had for sale. I was shopping for a friend’s Persian styled patio space, and the tree is often seen in Iranian homes. This particular variety is an ornamental, and produces no fruit.  I love the pale leaves and the enormous double flower.

But I really wanted a tree that produces fruit. That’s why I also went to Landscapes Unlimited. It was there that I found a fruiting, but dwarf pomegranate. They are a massive wholesale nursery, that is so big you are directed to drive to the various growing areas. I purchased the last two trees they had, and both are laden with flowers.

I think that I need to search more for a “standard” pomegranate if I want to find something that will bear large fruits. But these are true beauties, and a good showcase of how one tree can take many forms.