I wonder how much heat the wall reflects onto the plant.

I thought about that, but my pomegranate on the opposite side of my yard doesn't have the same problem as this one; and It gets full afternoon sun and is also up against a wall. Thanks for the input though!

I find pomegranates to be very salt tolerant, but maybe there's an excessive amount around it? Could be fertilizer burn too from existing fertilizer..

Another thing it could be is that variety doesn't like heat as much as the other ones. I have a few wonderful pomegranates and they love the heat. I probably would have replaced all my trees with them if they didn't blow over so easily when bogged down with fruit.

Before i planted this pomegranate i had some ruellias in the area that were in well amended soil. So maybe you are right about fertilizer burn from the previous plants. And both of my pomegranates are the same variety, so i don't think heat tolerance is the issue. It still looks like this even with the cooler temps we have been experiencing, so i think you are on to something with fertilizer burn... Thanks for the comment!