Punica granatum Alba Plena - Ornamental pomegranate

Punica granatum 'Alba Plena' is a rare flowering pomegranate. It is a particularly ornamental, white, double-flowered form. This deciduous shrub or small tree offers a long spring to summer flowering period that stands out beautifully against the very bright green foliage. Its flowers do not form fruit. A minor detail considering the generosity and remarkable adaptability of this variety! Protected during its first years, the young pomegranate will become a vigorous bush, resistant to summer drought and hardier than one might imagine. Ideal for a flowering hedge or a shrub border, the flowering pomegranate reveals its full charm when planted as a standalone specimen.

Punica granatum, better known as the pomegranate, is native to a vast region stretching from the Middle East to Central Asia. More precisely, its roots lie in Iran and Northern India, where it has grown for millennia. From there, it spread through trade and ancient civilisations, notably the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans, who introduced it to the Mediterranean. Today, it is cultivated in many warm, dry regions worldwide, for example, in Spain, Italy, California, and North Africa. This small deciduous tree belongs to the Lythraceae family.

The 'Alba Plena' form, like all double-flowered pomegranate cultivars, does not produce fruit but offers beautiful, very double flowers. It naturally forms a bush of slightly thorny, entangled shoots in its youth. Its growth is quite rapid until it reaches maturity, around 5-6 years of age. The mature pomegranate develops at a much slower rate. Ultimately, it forms a small tree approximately 3-4 m in height with a 2.5 m spread, with a slightly spreading and rounded habit, though more upright than in fruiting varieties. The mature tree stands on a gnarled trunk. Flowering occurs from June-July until August, depending on the climate. It is earlier in the south. The creamy white flowers are formed of multiple crumpled petals emerging from a thick, waxy-textured calyx. They measure 3-4 cm in diameter. The deciduous foliage is bright, glossy green. It is formed of small, ovate, elongated, thick leaves. The young leaves are coppery in colour in spring. The foliage turns golden yellow in autumn before falling.

The 'Alba Plena' pomegranate can be acclimatised in regions where frosts are not too prolonged, as this tree loves heat and sun. This plant will grow easily anywhere where the olive tree and the fig tree can thrive. Elsewhere, it should be planted in a very sheltered position, against a south-facing wall. It can be used as a standalone specimen or integrated into a hedge with the red double form 'Maxima Rubra', whether pruned regularly or not. Phillyrea - Filaria, mulberries, and strawberry trees make good companions.

The city of Granada, located in southern Spain and a crossroads of Arab and Andalusian civilisations, takes its name from the pomegranate, introduced by the Moors and widely planted in the legendary gardens of the Alhambra palace. This tree flowered in the famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and the Romans, having discovered it in Carthage, named it "Apple of Carthage".