Dark green leafy branches with bright red, drooping flowers on the right and two small pomegranate fruits on the left.

How To Grow Pomegranate Plants

Updated on Mar 20, 2024
By Baillie Blankenship

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) is a tropical vining plant native to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. Passionflower, also known as passion fruit, produces stunning, intricate flowers and sweet fruit. Passiflora edulis is hardy in zones 9-11.


HISTORY

Traditionally served on the Jewish high holiday of Rosh Hashana, pomegranate seeds are meant to symbolize fruitfulness. Chinese, Hindu, and many other cultures around the world also regard the pomegranate a symbol of fecundity and abundance. Early Christian art utlizes the image of an opened pomegranate to symbolize the sufferring and resurrection of Jesus. The ancient Greek story of Persephone, tricked by the god Hades into eating 6 pomegranate seeds and spending six months of the year with him, is a mythical explanation for the changing seasons as she emerges each spring from the underworld.

USES

  • Delicious in salads, smoothies, desserts, and eaten fresh.
Two small green pomegranate fruits hanging on a tree limb, one is tiny and the other slightly larger with a petal-like blossom end, in front of blurred dark green leaves and bright red blossoms.Two small green pomegranate fruits hanging on a tree limb, one is tiny and the other slightly larger with a petal-like blossom end, in front of blurred dark green leaves and bright red blossoms.

 

  • Choose a location in full to partial sun with well-drained soil.
  • Plants are hardy in zone 7-11.
  • If you are growing in a cooler area, use a pot (Minimum-10 gallons).
  • Space plants 10-15 ft apart.
  • Pomegranates are self-fertile but planting them in pairs will increase pollination.
Pomegranate shrub with dark green leaves and drooping, bell-shapedred blooms in a green bucket on a greenhouse floor.Pomegranate shrub with dark green leaves and drooping, bell-shapedred blooms in a green bucket on a greenhouse floor.

 

  • Fertilize in the spring and fall for the first few years.
  • When the plants are well established, prune away dead, crossing, damaged, and diseased branches while the shrubs are dormant.
  • Shrubs will fruit in 3-6 years.
Bright red flower with yellow center surrounded by dark green leaves.Bright red flower with yellow center surrounded by dark green leaves.

 

  • In the winter, propagate from 8-10-inch hardwood cuttings.
  • Dip in rooting hormone and plant into well-drained potting soil.
  • A humidity dome will help the cuttings root successfully.
  • Keep in a bright location until rooted.
  • Transplant the following growing season.
Drooping, bell-shaped, bright red blooms hanging from dark green leafy branches.Drooping, bell-shaped, bright red blooms hanging from dark green leafy branches.