Allure of the Orbs

It represents passion and fertility and the coming of winter. And in ancient Persia it was regarded as "The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."

With its mysterious Middle Eastern origins and hard shell hiding jewel-like beads of tangy juice, it's easy to see why some maintain that it was a pomegranate, not an apple, that was the fruit of temptation in the Garden of Eden.

It is also not hard to understand why this garnet globe that ripens in the darkening days of late autumn like a Christmas ornament and then splits to reveal the most captivating of botancial surprises is so impossible to resist.

Along with persimmons, pomegranates (Punica granatum), a cousin of the crape myrtle, are among the final fruits of the year. In Greek mythology, it was partaking of the pomegranate that consigned the beautiful Persephone to the underworld for a quarter of every year. And it was during those three months when she was with Hades that her bereft mother, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, refused to let anything grow. Winter descended on the land.

Barbara Baer, a former college English teacher, was captivated by that story as a young child growing up in Southern California, where the sun-loving bush thrived.

"They just totally beckon me. They enchant me. I can't get enough," says Baer, who fights the cooler climate of western Sonoma County to grow pomegranates behind her Forestville home.

She was so smitten by this ancient fruit that she was compelled to travel to Turkmenistan in pursuit of the story of Gregory Levin, a Russian botanist who has spent his life searching the wilds of Central Asia to rescue some 1,117 different varieties. With the help of a translator, Baer recently published Levin's story, "Pomegranate Roads," through her small Floreant Press.

Thanks to Levin's work, cuttings of which have made their way to the USDA Repository at UC Davis (which then introduces them to horticulturists through periodic tastings), the choices for home gardeners and professional growers has expanded markedly in just the past few years.

Tempting colors

Now, in addition to the common "Wonderful" variety usually found in nurseries and grocery produce aisles, you can be tempted by such varieties as Angel Red, Pink Satin, Red Silk and Garnet Sash.

Some are more pink, some more red. Some have soft seeds, some have harder seeds. Some produce tangy juice and some produce sweet juice.

Fueling the surge in pomegranate mania is the fact that within that hard, inhospitable looking shell lie translucent capsules called arils filled with juice containing polyphenol antioxidants. That juice also contains large amounts of potassium and vitamin C, to help resist infection, build blood cells, improve circulation and prevent the build-up of artery clogging cholesterol.

May soon rival olive oil

The enchanting fruit has been thriving in California gardens since the mission period, having been brought to the New World by Cortez in 1521.

They really require very little water, particularly for the strictly ornamental varieties. If you want juicy fruit, you should expect to give them some added water in summer, however, said Dave Fazio, the host of KSRO's garden talk show.

Fazio will feature 8 different varieties in bare-root plants this January at his Sonoma Mission Gardens. He said he's seen a big leap in demand for pomegranates as Wine Country's love affair with Mediterranean landscapes continues to grow. Buyers range from home gardeners to small farmers looking to add some pomegranates to increase the diversity of their crops.

Some observers predict that pomegranates may follow olive oil and lavender as the next new boutique crop on the North Coast.

"They're good not only for summer interest from the shiny green leaves with a hint of red to them. But they give good yellow, red and orange for fall color," said Fazio. For one landscaping client he is installing a promenade of 24 pomegranates, planted every 20 feet down a path.

The other virtue of the pomegranate is that it is not attractive to pests and deer pass it by.

Most people interested in pomegranates, Fazio said, want to know what to do if the fruit starts splitting.

"It usually has to do with water, either a lack of it or early early rains that get the fruit wet. Or sometimes a big temperature differential between night and day," Fazio said.

Your best tactic when that happens? Don't fret. Eat. Once cracked, pomegranates won't stay fresh and edible for long. Meanwhile, horticulturists, building on Levin's research, try to develop new varieties that either won't crack or will withstand colder climates or produce fruit earlier. Most varieties now ripen in late autumn.

David Ulmer, president of the Redwood Empire Chapter of the Rare Fruit Growers, has planted three different varieties -- Cloud, Eve and Mae -- on his acre in West County. He prefers to plant from cuttings, which he gleans at the group's annual scion (cutting) exchanges each January. The Jan. 26 event at the Veterans Building in Sebastopol not only is open to the public, but all cuttings are free.

He suggests potting them first with half potting soil and half perlite until they get big enough to safely plant in the ground. Put them on a heating mat available at farm and garden supplies.

"Keep them moist but not too wet," he advises. After the leaves start to emerge, get them into sunlight. He likes to apply a little Cloud Cover to protect them from cold damage until they take root.

Fruit prefers hot climates

You'll want to find a real sunny place in the garden out of the wind, according to Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata, owner of Garden Delights nursery in Penngrove. Generally, pomegranates will thrive more in hotter inland areas like Sonoma, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg. Like most plants, they need good drainage in winter so plant them on a mound or a slope.

They come in fruiting, ornamental and dwarf varieties. Trained as a tree, they might reach up to 15 feet tall. But left as a bush and thinned in the winter, they will get about half that in height.

Pomegranates produce large, rather ruffly flowers in white, pink or red, typically in June. But the magic is in the fruit, which will may start ripening as early as October.

Slicing techniques vary. Some cut them under water, partly to minimize staining from squirts. Baer prefers to make a series of cuts around the globe and then break open the shell. But Hagiwara-Nagata prefers to peel, keeping each capsule intact.

"I peel back the rind and find the individual compartments where the seed gathers and pick them out one by one," he says. "I don't cut them in half. I want to get every single last hole."

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat

.com.