The second pomegranate you list may be cold hardy but I have heard that it ripens its fruits very late so may not work in zone 6 - if you are wanting ripe fruit.

I heard the 1st is cold hardy in the ground and wiil produce fruit before frost. i really want fruit so the 2nd one isnt the best choice. I will proplly order one as a exparment

The earliest ripening pawpaws I have heard of are Summer Delight and Kentucky Champion. They are supposed to be great tasting fruit as well. They would probably ripen before Labor Day in MA , as they ripen amazingly early in Kentucky- around August 1st. According to nurseryman Cliff England from England Nursery, they are the earliest he has seen. PA golden and those from MI and Iowa should be quite early as well.

Pomegranates:
I think any variety will be killed back or to the ground below 0degF WITHOUT protection, which means it won't flower or fruit the following summer, since they do so on older wood. I guess it depends how often you actually get that low (by definition for a zone 6a, you should get between -5 and -10 in an average winter) and what type of protection you will provide.

Check on this forum for info from others trialing pomegranate in the NE, also search for article by author Lee Reich on the subject.

FYI: I tried ordering several similar pomegranate varieties last year from UC Davis, and although the confirmation e-mail came through and I followed up in the subsequent months, I never received anything. They never contacted me saying that they were out of the items, that I did not qualify (plants are intended for research only), or that I needed to prepay postage (I've heard conflicting reports on this). They do clearly state on the website that home gardeners are not the intended users of their service and should buy from a nursery... That's what I did, but of course I was only able to find one of my desired varieties in the local area, and will have to send away for the others (Rolling River Nursery has many of them). One advantage to ordering growing plants? You get an older plant that is often already of flowering/fruiting age, along with however many cuttings you wish to prune off of it!

I seen people that grow pomegrates in the same zone as me AND get pomograntes with no dieback.

I expect it is because they are not getting -10F temperatures, -10F will kill back any pom. Given the recent warming trend you may be fine since you will prove to not be in 6a anymore.

Scott

we have two 50+ yr.old pomegranate'Wonderful' bushes that here in zone 7 @ 5200 ft. elevation have produced fruit for years & even survived minus 18 degrees one winter. And, yes, after that freeze they died back & came up from the roots again so the next yeat all they did was put on new growth but the second year they were loaded with fruit again. Strange though, the flowers come on over a long period yet the fruit all matures at the SAME time?! At $1 or more each in the stores, I think I must have a 'goldmine' in those trees!! We have never had a problem with any diseases on these bushes (will grow into small trees if left alone!). Are there now more varieties of the edible 'pomes than the 'Wonderful'?

vieja, thanks for the great pomegranate story, and from a fellow New Mexican too...

I'm experimenting with pomegranates in a zone colder than you, where they could be killed to the ground every winter (which would mean no fruit), so I have to come up with some easy form of protection.

There have always been dozens of pomegranate varieties, especially in Central Asia, but 'Wonderful' is the one that took off in this country. Unfortunately for folks with shorter growing seasons, Wonderful is one of the later ripening varieties, and it's difficult to find anything else at local nurseries. I managed to track down the new variety 'Angel Red' which has been making headlines the last couple years, and which ripens a month ahead of 'Wonderful'.

fabaceae_native: Would the Angel Red do good in zone 6? I would doubt it. The ones from Russia are very cold hardy.

ekierk, you're right that 'Angel Red' is not known to be especially cold hardy, but then neither is 'Wonderful', and it does well in zone 7 and in some cases survives in zone 6. I am confident that proper protection will be the key to success in my case.

But I'm really more concerned about early ripening, since my growing season typically ends in October, when many varieties (including many of the Russian ones) are not yet fully ripe. Some of the Russian varieties may be a few degrees more cold hardy than 'standard' varieties, but they are NOT necessarily early ripening. Also, in order to get fruit, I believe I will need to protect the plants during the April/May period when late frosts could zap the new growth as the plants come out of dormancy. So why not protect all winter and just focus on early ripening varieties?

That's the route I'm going to take, and the other varieties I have my eye on are:
'Eversweet'
'Sweet'
'White'
'Granada'
'Sverkhranniy' (A Russian early ripening, though not necessarily cold hardy variety)

You have a point. i know that Salavaski will survive and produce fruit in zone 6. i think i might try Angel Red. i have also have good things about "Ambrosia". It has thick would and is a little hardier than "Wonderful"

I noticed on the Bay Laurel website that Angel Red will only be availabe this year and maybe not after:

"One item that we know will no longer be available is the Angel Red pomegranate. Due to a patent issue, this will most certainly be the last year we will have them, so get them while you can!"

Here is a link that might be useful: Bare Root Pomegranates

Suhr anor, salavatski, and kazake do quite well in zone 7 and I would think worth a trial in zone 6. As far as persimmon I would suggest smiths best aka giboshi, great wall, and saijo. Possibly hana fuyu for a non astringent.

UC Davis pomegranate update: above I posted that my order with them had failed, but today I got an e-mail saying they will process it this coming February! I guess they were too swamped or otherwise able to fill it last year. They will bill me for the shipping though.

Now a year later, I can't even remember what I ordered, but I think it included at least Salavatski and Kazake. I guess I'll be able to test if they will ripen in my climate someday.