Been doing a lot of research on poms and would love to add a few to my yard, but really looking for something I don’t have to baby. It seems the Belbek and Bulgarian varieties (among a few others) are the only ones that can truly live comfortably (enough) in z7a. That said… I can’t seem to find them anywhere!
Much appreciation to anyone that could lead me in the right direction. Clearly they’re out here in the US as I’ve seen people mention having said varieties.
Am I perhaps missing something? I looked through all the pomegranates on each page of that search and none of them are the Bulgarian varieties (e.g. Bulgaria 1 or 3) or Belbek. Are some of them sold under different names?
EDIT: I looked through all their pomegranates and only two were close:
Belbek is known to survive to at least -5F and ripens late Aug to late Sept. The most promising of the above is Sumbar, which according to them is “Hardy to 0º F or below” and ripens September-October. If I really can’t find a Belbek I’ll perhaps take a chance with the Sumbar and hope global warming keeps us a little warmer here in the mountains.
I have ‘Uzbek’, and I think that they will be ready to give you 1 this autumn, if not then next year, if you’d like. You live about 2 hours and 20 minutes away from me, if you want to pick it up, or I could ship it to you. It was used in a hybridization project to make ‘Belbek’, and it’s nearly as cold hardy as ‘Belbek’.
I am getting ‘Belbek’ soon as well, yet I don’t have it yet.
I doubt that ‘Bulgaria super Hardy’ also known as “Bulgarian 3” is in the USA, yet I will be watching for it. I have never actually heard of “Bulgarian 1” before, hmmmm
Sadly no I don’t
‘Kaj-acik-anor’ appears to be almost as cold hardy as ‘Uzbek’, and ‘Belbek’ is even more cold hardy than ‘Uzbek’.
‘Sumbar’ appears to not be as cold hardy as any of those others, yet there is less information about ‘Sumbar’ so hard to tell.
Alan that would be amazing!
I’ll shoot you a DM once home, just getting back from a climbing trip.
I’ll do my best to pay it forward with more cuttings for members and local nurseries as it grows. I already know a few farmers in the area that are stoked for more fig varieties that I’m sure would be ecstatic to have a truly 7a pom they could pass around 
I’m slowly testing things out here so I can make cuttings of the plants which do well
I’m in zone 8a (Western Washington). So far I’ve already ruled out more pomegranates for lacking adequate hardiness than I’ve found that are reliably hardy.
Cultivars which have not met my hardiness requirements are:
‘Parfianka,’ ‘Sverkhranniy,’ ‘Kazaki,’ ‘Surh-Anor’ and ‘Kaj-Acik-Anor’
Cultivars which have shown great promise are:
‘Eversweet,’ ‘Desertnyi,’ ‘Sumbar’ and ‘Salavatski’
Additionally, I am also trialing ‘Al-Sirin-Nar,’ but haven’t had it long enough to assess hardiness.
If anyone is interested in reading my notes about each I have a blog post that I edit with updates as I track the progress.
Just a reminder to people, a pomegranate cultivator can be more cold sensitive in some climates, and we are left wondering why not in others, for example in some climates ‘Kaj-acik-anor’ is more cold hardy than ‘Salavatski’, and in other climates it’s not.
I have BELBEK. And I know where you can get it.
Humidity plays a big part in determining which cultivar is more hardy in a region. Some pomegranates are less tolerant of humidity and combine it with winter cold soil they will die at a higher temperature than if they are growing in a cold dry climate zone. It’s why some poms trade off. I’m in a dry desert region 6b/7a and mine are doing better than some folks growing them in zone 8 with humidity. .Poms really HATE humidity combined with cold wet feet. Kazake, Suhr Anor, Salavatdki, Balegal, Kaj akik Anor, Bulgaria 1 &2, Poland super hardy, Kandahari, Bala Miursal, Nikitsi Ranni, Anvari, Sumbar, Parfianka, Portugal, Reza, Texas Red, Texas Pink, Afganski, Alk pust saveh, petrovac, Poland super hardy, AC sweet, Utah Sweet. and others are doing well insulated under 14 inches of snow at the moment.
I was able to get my hands on some cuttings a few days ago! Currently rooting some out now in hopes of being able to provide more to the community.
That’s quite the collection! Have you been able to try any yet? Any favorites or ones you’d think are particularly promising in a cold environment? I’m in 7a but our winters are generally pretty low in humidity, though certainly to get some cold rainy days. Going to trial them all and see how they do, but keep some in pots and move them inside to make sure I have something that survives.
Kazake, Salavatski, Anvari, Russian 26 produced fruit last fall. Others are still maturing. My largest Pom tree reaches 10 feet currently.
I have some of the cold hardy pomegranates, Entek Habi Saveh,Kaj Acik Anor, Uzbek, Kazake, Salavatsky.
They all encountered 5F. They had freeze damages except Salavatsky.
But all grew back fast.
many of the hardy varieties were bred in the former USSR.
to provide the population with exotic fruits. It is said they bred more exotics for cold hardness, but almost only the pomegranates are public for some reason
Happy to see another 7a grower attempting poms!
Belbek is said to handle temps down to -5 F without dieback, possibly lower 
. Looking forward to trialing it outside.
please keep updating about the Blebek attempt. I haven’t had a -5F yet.
I would not worry so much if the pomegranate freezes back when it gets -5F.
if they are big enough
they are great freeze back come back plants.
I wonder how many degrees of the harder ones can withstand at most if you include the back freezing. and you could even mulch them too.
Please let us know where to get Belbek. I’m from Poland.
You’re super lucky to be in Europe if you’re after cold hardy poms!
Get in touch with Michael: http://punica-granatum.de from Germany and he’ll sell you cuttings of many cold-hardy varieties for a very fair price.
EDIT: I’m pretty sure he has Belbek even though I don’t believe it’s listed on his site.
Yes, he definitely has it, he shows photos of it on his facebook page.
Michael has Bulgaria 1,2,3