Friday, August 19, 2011

Pomegranate

Wikipedia says pomegranate trees were introduced to California by the Spanish in 1769, to be exact. Someone must have kept a record of it. Wikipedia's article doesn't mention how long it took them (the pomegranates) to reach Pasadena.

Our neighborhood pomegranates will be ready to eat in December or thereabouts. Tell that to this bug.

21 comments:

Latino Heritage said...

Beutiful, bursting with colore pic.
By the way, Pasadena was almost named Granada (pomegranate). Pic would have been that much more fitting. Darn that Dr. Elliott, anyway.

Cafe Pasadena said...

December will be ready to eat?
Ok! Thank you, PDP.

John Sandel said...

"Talk to the [bug]!"

dive said...

Mmm … Delicious! And this one comes with a free crunchy bug for extra protein. Yum.
Cool comment from Latino Heritage. It's good to know the history of places.

Laurie Allee said...

May I have a few to hurl at people? Been one of those weeks! :-)

Dina said...

That's a big bug.

Are we that far ahead of you? The pomegranates on the trees outside my house will be ready to eat and bless for Rosh Hashana next month.

Anonymous said...

I read somewhere (and I can't find the source, no matter how I try..) the pomegranates are EXTREMELY slow walkers. It took them 4 years just to get from The Strand up to Highland in Manhattan Beach, so at a rough guess....174 years. Crossing the 405 must have been a nightmare/

Speedway said...

That's an extremely handsome bug. Could be the draft horse of his kind. Nice looking pomegranate, too.

I'm just waiting for my tomatoes. The vine is sturdy and strong, doing fine. A co-worker told me that I'll probably have fall tomatoes. Fall tomatoes? Well, they just got blooms this week, so he must be right. This waiting for nature thing is a pain.

Petrea Burchard said...

Good morning!

LH, I like our name, Pasadena. Granada's nice, but enough other people have put it to good use.

Cafe, December is a good month for eating. I recommend a basic grammar text. Or, if you prefer to work online, try http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/

I tried it, JS. He listened but had nothing to say to me.

Dive, Latino Heritage (Roberta) is one of our revered local historians and educators and I'm honored when she comments here.

Oh dear, Laurie, I need to catch up with you. But yes. I can show you the tree. It's got some to spare. We should go at night.

I guess so, Dina. We usually have them in winter. Maybe November, but I don't think they'll be ready in October.

Mainz (JB), you will soon be competing with Roberta for revered historian status and everyone will be caging their pomegranates. And you're right about the 405.

Speedway, you give me hope that I could still plant some tomatoes.

Anonymous said...

revered historian

Sounds a bit age-ist to me. Just watch it....

Petrea Burchard said...

If I'm not older than Roberta I'm close to it, and damn it, I should be revered for making it this far.

Diana said...

Well, bugs gotta eat, too, I guess. What are you going to do with your luscious pomegranates when they're ready to eat? I once made pomegranate juice by pureeing the little red seeds in the food processor. Take note: be very sure that the pusher is in the feed tube when you do this, or you will be washing pomegranate juice off the ceiling. Ask me how I know this...

Pasadena Adjacent said...

Does anyone know if Pomegranates have destructive and aggressive root systems? I know about miniatures but I want the large size fruit.

Petrea Burchard said...

Diana, it's not my tree so I have no plans for these, except to throw them at Laurie's enemies. But do tell us about your ceiling.

PA, I don't know about planting them. Wikipedia says they grow 5-8 meters tall.

Bellis said...

I'd love to have room for a pomegranate tree, because the red flowers are beautiful, and the fruit even better. That bug reminds me of Don Quixote's horse, maybe because I'm thinking of Spain - the pomegranate was the symbol of Catherine of Aragon and appears in a lot of places built by Henry VIII before Anne Boleyn came along.

Shell Sherree said...

The bug knows his fruits. Pomegranates have mystical health-giving powers, or so I've heard.

Ms M said...

Love your photo, the shine on the pomegranate, the rich color, and the surprise of the large bug. Interesting to learn of the history, too.

Petrea Burchard said...

I agree about that history, Ms. M.

I knew pomegranates had a great history in the near east, but not that the Brits coveted them, too. Interesting, though, that Catherine of Aragon was Spanish and that it was Spaniards who brought them to California. Perhaps they've been loved for so long because of those powers Shell mentions.

Margaret said...

Wow! This might be one of my all time favorite of your photos.

Petrea Burchard said...

Gee, Margaret, thank you.

Susan Campisi said...

There's something poetic about the pomegranate, and it has such an interesting story. I had no idea.