Juicy jewel-like luxury fruit, the ornamental Pomegranate tree, and its antioxidant-rich fruit brighten both your garden and your diet! With bold red, orange, or yellow flowers and lovely, fine-textured foliage, Pomegranates are gorgeous flowering and fruiting edible landscaping trees that are sure to enliven the landscape!
If you’re in a warmer climate and looking for a drought-resistant tree with loads of beauty and amazingly healthful fruit, look no further than Nature Hills' wide selection of Pomegranate tree varieties. After all, these “Seeded Apples” have been growing in the Mediterranean regions of the world for centuries! Only first introduced to the US in the 1700s, they have been a favorite winter treat and warm-climate ornamental accent since!
These fruit trees can live over 200 years in the right growing conditions and start fruiting early on in life! Nature Hills ships our Pomegranate trees as 3-4-year-old mature root systems, so you can enjoy fruit sooner!
Best of all - They grow AMAZINGLY in pots, planters, and containers!
- Growing Pomegranates in Containers
- Sun Needs
- Moisture Needs
- Soil & Fertilizer
- Preventing Stress
- Pruning & Thinning
- Best Types of Container Pomegranates
- Pretty Pomegranates!
Growing Pomegranate Trees in Containers
Members of the Lythraceae family, the Pomegranates fruit has smooth leathery skin on the outside and pulpy arils inside (the edible part of the fruit - seeds surrounded by sweet, juicy pulp). Nature Hills carries ten varieties of Pomegranates for you to enjoy and several do amazingly in containers!
Gorgeous, glossy tropical leaves fill out these trees all growing season, and these deciduous trees usually have some thorns and can either have a bushy shrub-like form or can be trained into an ornamental small tree - both multi-branched or single trunk.
Either way, these delightful fruit trees are ideal for growing in large planters!
Pomegranates thrive in a wide range of warmer USDA growing zones between 7 through 10. But those gardeners in cooler climates need not despair! You can grow a patio Pomegranate tree in a large planter and simply move it into a bright sunny window, sunroom or greenhouse for the winter! Simply prune them as small as you need to save space and more easily bring your tree indoors and out as needed.
Pomegranates thrive in areas of warm, arid conditions. Easy-to-grow and low-maintenance, Pomegranate fruit trees require about the same care you’d expect from any other fruiting tree or shrub! But they are highly disease-resistant and self-fruitful!
Use a minimum 10-gallon-sized container with excellent drainage holes and a dribble tray to catch excess moisture.
Sunlight and Temperature Needs
- Provide a Full Sun area outside, at least 6 hours of sun
- Indoors - provide a bright window with as much full sun (not direct) as possible
- Employ grow lights if needed indoors
- Keep indoor plants away from drafts and heaters
- Bring outdoor trees inside if there is a threat of temps dipping below 40°F
Moisture Needs
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Container trees need enriched soil and good drainage in their pots
- Plants outside in full sun need regular attention to their moisture needs
- Require well-drained soil - Don’t let them dry out or sit in water!
- Indoors - check a few times a week until you get to know their routine
- Use the Finger Test Method to determine if you need to water.
- Let dry out slightly between waterings
Soil, Fertilizer and Other Needs
- Plant in organically enriched fertile soil
- Remember to use Nature Hills Root Booster for life-long symbiotic support
- Use a slow-release fruit tree fertilizer or good quality organic 10-10-10 fertilizer twice a year in early spring, and again in late fall.
- Apply a 3-4 inch layer of arborist mulch over the soil in the container for an additional layer of protection from evaporation and to keep the roots cooler.
Preventing Stress
Prevent fruit-drop by keeping your tree stress-free! Gradually acclimate your container Pomegranate indoors after a summer of full sun, and again gradually acclimate a tree back out into the full sun after a winter of indoor pampering. Avoid letting your tree sit in water and drying out too long between waterings. Avoid placing your tree near heaters and near any drafts.
Sudden changes will cause stress and can lead to you losing those gorgeous leaves or heartbreakingly watching all your fruit drop before it ripens!
Pruning Requirements
Prune Pomegranate trees in late winter or very early spring by removing crossing branches, and suckers coming up from the bottom, and cleanly snip out any damaged or dead limbs. Maintain young trees so they have three to five shoots per branch. Shape your tree into a round and full bushy shrub, as a multi or single-trunk form at this time too.
Check out How to Thin Fruit - Video Tutorial to enjoy larger fruit and healthier crops and more Success Tips in our Garden Blog!
Best Types of Pomegranates for Containers
While any kind of Pomegranate can be pruned and maintained as small or as large as you can accommodate, here are the smaller and easier-to-maintain trees for your pots and planters!
1. Ambrosia Pomegranate
Ambrosia produces the largest fruit of all the Pomegranates, up to three times the size of other varieties! This hardy shrub requires very little care, and displays a profusion of bright, orange blooms in spring! Glossy green foliage with a columnar growth habit and arching branches creates a robust and romantic appearance. Then it becomes bedecked in the fall when the fruits are ready to harvest.
Lovely as it dangles on the bush, the fruit consists of shiny, pink globes that encase a multitude of delicious, juicy seeds. With sweet-tart flavored, purple-hued, fragrant juice! Ripe in September and only requiring 150-200 chill hours, Ambrosia is an easy-care delight in pots or in the ground.
2. Parfianka Pomegranate
Needing only 200 chill hours to set fruit, the space-saving Parfianka is a long-lived, self-fruitful tree that is pint-sized at only 6-10 feet in height unpruned. So go crazy with these little trees trained into any shape or size you like! Espalier, topiary, bush, or tree - you can have it!
Red trumpet-shaped blooms and orange-sized red fruit is ripe in September through November in many hardiness zones of 7-10. These mini Pomegranate trees deliver full-sized tree flavor and nutrition when grown easily in containers on your porch or patio!
3. Pink Satin
Resembling a Grapefruit more than a Pomegranate, the Pink Satin has pinkish-orangy, peachy skin with bright pink seeds inside! Best of all - the nearly seedless fruit is full of clear, refreshing, flavorful juice! Full of sweet fruit punch flavor in medium to large-sized fruit.
Spring brings unique orange blooms that are equally ornamental as well! The multi-branched form stays a modest 12 feet in height and can be easily pruned, sized and shaped to any you need for your garden needs! Pink Satin only needs 150-200 chill hours, and the fruit is ready to enjoy by October to November.
4. Red Silk
Very low chill requirements at 100-200 hours, and ripening earlier than most Pomegranates, Red Silk begins to ripen in August through September! This naturally dwarfed variety easily fits into small space gardens. Red Silk stays small and can be pruned smaller than its mature 12 - 18 feet in height when needed. It's a versatile dwarf tree that offers so much for the home gardener and the container gardener!
Gorgeous red blooms in summer bring hummingbirds and pollinators, and the red skin and deep pink, edible arils bring the best of sugary sweetness and zippy tang together with a wonderful berry-like finish.
5. Sweet Pomegranate
The Sweet Pomegranate Tree is suitable for a large container and is somewhat smaller than other varieties. Requiring 100-200 hours of chill, it grows to about 12 feet when left unpruned. You’ll love the orange-red flowers in late spring and the beautiful pink fruits in the fall! This ornamental tree has glossy, leathery leaves that are narrow and lance-shaped.
Sweet Pomegranate is self-pollinated, as well as cross-pollinated by insects. Cross-pollination with another Pomegranate will increase the fruit set. It will produce fruit in 3-5 years, so you won’t wait long before you are enjoying the large fruit with light pink flesh and a taste that is sweet and juicy, and slightly acidic!
6. Wonderful Pomegranate
The aptly named Wonderful Pomegranate has the brightest red flowers you’ve ever seen! Hummingbirds can’t resist! Only growing to 10-12 feet when left unpruned, Wonderful can be pruned to shape as you desire.
The 4-inch, round red fruit is filled with equally red pulp around each seed. Wonderful has a unique tart-sweet flavor and ripens in September. Only needed 150-200 chill hours in USDA growing zones 7-10.
Pretty Pomegranates!
The attractive foliage, flowers, and fruits of the Pomegranate, as well as their easy-going nature, make them excellent container or landscaping ornamental fruit trees! Check out all our edible gardening plants, columnar trees, Espalier and Topiary fruit trees for your landscape - whether you have a yard or not!
One of the Top 5 Most Popular Fruit trees, Pomegranates are no longer a rare luxury! Order your own tree for your orchard and get growing these antioxidant-packed gems today at Nature Hills Nursery!
Want to learn more about Pomegranates available at Nature Hills? Check out our YouTube videos on favorite Pomegranates and How to Cut a Pomegranate without making a mess!
Let us know your favorite and how you like to use your Trees in the landscape or use the fruit in the kitchen on any of our social media pages! We look forward to hearing from you!
Happy Planting!
