Update: It turns out some of the assumptions on which I based this months-old post were, as assumptions are wont to do, false. Thanks to Ed Laivo whose comments below shed much-welcome light on pomegranate naming conventions and the like.
I didn’t enjoy sawing down the two pomegranate tree/bushes and then digging up their roots, because they were lovely in the spring. However, thanks to bad marketing on the part of the wholesale nursery trade and one of their local retail customers, these turned out to be trees with poor fruits, so out they went. Life is too short to grow insipid pomegranates.
As best I can discern, California’s Dave Wilson Nursery, one of the biggest wholesalers of pomegranate trees, decided a few years ago that the real names of pomegranate varieties weren’t splashy enough for marketing purposes. So they changed all the names. We had read that a variety originally named Parfianka had won some major taste-tests, and had other desirable qualities we wanted in a fruit tree. We had also read that the Wilson nursery had renamed this tree “Garnet Sash” (splashy, huh?). So three years ago or so, we bought two “Garnet Sash” trees from a local retail nursery that has not since become one of our favorites. The labels on the trees show they came from Dave Wilson.
Here is a representative description of Parfianka, the likes of which you will find on various retail nursery web sites:
Large size Red fruit is sweet with a hint of acidity. Arils are red with very small edible seeds. Vigorous upright plant sets a heavy crop dependably. Maintain at any height with summer pruning. Always receives the highest praise for overall flavor. Great for juice or fresh eating.
Here is my description of the fruit we got from our trees over the past two years:
Small to medium fruit is green with a hint of pink when ripe. Arils are white with large, bitter seeds. Vigorous upright plants set a lot of flowers, a few of which become fruit. Overall flavor is insipid, with bitter overtones. Lousy for fresh eating and not very juicy.
Thus, it appears to me that whatever the retailers are selling as “Garnet Sash,” it is not Parfianka. It isn’t even a red variety, although when you create a marketing name containing the word “garnet,” the public (at least the percentage of the public familiar with the word “garnet”) is going to be expecting a red variety.
Bottom line: The wholesale nursery industry is capable of using marketing to shoot itself in the foot instead of increasing sales through the promotion of great plants.
Next time I go pomegranate shopping (if I go again) I may have to get a USDA license and import them from overseas in order to assured of getting what I paid for. Sheesh.
11 Comments
Mr. Dunn,
I read your article about the poorly performing pomegranates. I’ve done a lot research on pomegranates, and decided that Dave Wilson’s pomegranate are intended only for the west coast. Due to our humidity, heat, and growing season, most of the west coast pomegranates will not do well on the east coast. The nursery ” Just fruit and exotics ” in Florida, probably has a better variety for your area. I live in NC and have had some luck with them.
Rick
Rick,
Thanks very much for your suggestion. I’ll check out the Florida nursery you mentioned. I would hate to give up on such a time-tested fruit.
In all fairness,
I am the one responsible for naming the varieties from the Wolfskill germplasium repository, including A Lavins many great selections. As a matter of fact I had wrote that the intention was to release these varieties under market names to help Dave Wilson Nursery recapture the funds spent on researching pomegranates for 6 years before the release. The information you received off of the Garden Web site was incorrect. It was my intention to release Parfyanka in the first offering (there were 2 that followed) and I shared my desire to name it Garnet Sash with but a very few people a year before the release. The amount of cutting wood available was not sufficient so I had another variety released as GS. There was never any mention of Parfyanka at that point. One of the people who was privy to the early consideration writes on the Garden Web site you linked. They were not a part of the release. I am sorry that your experience was bad. I do agree with Rick that the selection might not be adapted to your climate as it is a wonderful RED selection in the dryer California climate. I would add that I could not have told you not to plant any of the selections including Parfyanka due to there inability to adapt to high humidities. I did many test on the released selection but we did none connected with humidity tolerance. I hope the Florida supplier was able to supply a suitable selection, because I do agree that Poms are a Wonderful Fruit
Ed Laivo
Former Sales and Marketing Director For Dave Wilson Nursery
Ed,
Thanks so much for providing the history regarding the Wolfskill germplasium repository and the naming conventions of various pomegranate varieties; it’s greatly appreciated! In my case, I suspect the “Parfyankas” I purchased somehow became mislabeled, which can’t help but happen once in a while at a high volume nursery operation (I lose labels on a certain number of my tropicals each years somehow)
As for the humidity, I’m not so sure that’s an issue. The fruit of whatever it turned out I planted were very white inside, with just a hint of blush on a mostly greenish fruit. They were juicy, but not much sugar content. As for the plants, they grew vigorously and didn’t seem put off by the humidity.
I’m absolutely going to plant some variety of pom in the future, especially as our semi-wooded property incurred some losses among our figs and loquats over the summer due to extended drought mostly.
I am fascinated by the plant’s history and appreciate your having taken the time to provide clarity herewith.
I suffered the same fate, thinking that Garnet Sash was another name for Parfianka. I do live in California and my experience with Garnet Sash was identical to yours. The arils were mostly white, with some demonstrating a red blush. Their flavor was mild and insipid. Additionally, the fruits seem to suffer significant UV damage which makes them quite unattractive later in the season. Similar to you I have removed these and replaced them with the real Parfianka. Misery loves company. Thanks.
-Brett
I had the same experience with my Garnet Sash. I wonder why nurseries show pictures with red arils for Garnet. Last year we had in Austin very hot summer and arils turned to brown color – no use.
This year they all transparent , sweet but not tasty at all.
The best variety so far give me good result are Desertniy and Red Silk, I will try Angel Red fruit within week and later Austin pomegranate veriaty. I have two Parfianka but I guess first crop is couple of years away.
Today I spoke with a grower- supplier of Angel Red (the super juicey red-outside and super red inside new cultivar). He told me that do to climate the Angel Red in Central Florida (Sebring) might not develope the color properly. I bought an Ambrosia- yellow outside but red inside which is supposed to work for Florida from a local Nursery If anyobe has luck growing Parfiankas or Angel Reds to quality fruit in Central Florida please write about the whole procedure.
Roberta,
I am growing Angel Red in the Central Valley of California and my fruit looked nothing like the picture on their ad. It is sweet, that is true, but it is not red. I can’t remember whether I took pictures. I even went to the nursery (a very reputable one) and compared the fruit from his trees. They too, were just that clear color, tinged with red. He had two different batches, from two different growers and they were all the same. I laughed when he brought out the photo from
the company and compared it to the fruit I brought, and that we had just picked off at the nursery.
In all fairness, it could be that they were in pots, The developer of the tree said it could be the fruit wasn’t shaded enough. All of those conditions will be different this October, so I will update then. It would be interesting to find if anyone else has produced fruit like this?
Our Parfianka did wonderfully this year in New Mexico. We bought it last fall from Animas Creek Nursery located just south of us near Caballo, NM. It has done beautifully in a very large container. The fruit was perfect to our taste, very juicy, beautifully red. I’m not sure but I think it is a Dave Wilson.
we grew Parfyanka here in Shingletown, CA (northern California mountains) at 2000 feet and it has produced very large, sweet dark red fruit its second year in the ground. I love that the seeds are so tiny you actually get a lot of juice from them.
Just a comment. When I grew Eversweet pomegranate 20 years ago it took 4 years to make fruit. Instead of white flesh with soft seeds, the fruit had red flesh with hard seeds. I initially thought that I had wasted 4 years. However the fruit gradually changed and by the 7th year in the ground it had the correct characteristics of color and seed hardness.
PATIENCE REQUIRED BEFORE JUDGEMENT