You can grow them in containers and get fruit. However you may need a 15 gal min. container. Also don't expect to get baskets filled with fruit. I would expect more like 4-6 nicely sized pomegranates per container on a 4 year old plant. I would recommend pruning off the fruit the first couple of years to thicken the trunk. Here is some pictures; Angel Red From Mar 27, 2011 Parfianka From Mar 27, 2011

Fig and pomegranate are best planted when they are dormant -- Jan-Feb is good. It doesn't matter whether they are bare-root or caontainerized. Fall planting is, as you say, "okay". Avocados are best planted in late-winter-earliest spring -- Feb-Mar is good. Joe

I'm growing a dwarf pomegranate in Central AR. I bought it on ebay last Spring. I can check my records to see what vendor if you need. All the plants I bought from that vendor were in excellent quality. They were all small, starter plants, indicated by SP, and were not at all expensive. So, this plant is quite small now. It grew great the first summer, and I put it in the ground. It survived the winter last winter, although I was wondering a few times. It now has many leaves and is bushy, but a little small still. The green pretty much came from the bottom of the plant; not on the tops of the stems, which may have got bit by the cold? Our lowest temp, I think, was 17 F. When I bought the plant, it was stated to survive zone 7 winters, so I had planned for it to go in the ground the whole time. We also bought another for a bonsai, and left it out all winter, too. Ironically, it did better over the winter despite being in a pot. Either the location was more sheltered, or the one in the ground didn't get settled in as well since I planted it last year in late summer/early Fall. I am happy so far that I am trying this dwarf pomegranate. I think I'd like to try a full size one for the backyard, sometime, too. However, they are 30 dollars or more at the nurseries, albeit they are nice big plants in big pots. If you are zone 7, I'd say give pomegranate a try, esp if you can find one for an affordable price. You can always throw a sheet over it if the temps drop below 10 for the first few winters.

I have 2 salvatski pomegranates which I am embarrassed to admit I've kept in pots for 2 winters even though everyone told me not to. My conclusion is that they're easy to grow in pots but they probably will never bear fruit in pots. One of them finally bore a single flower this year but no fruit, and I plan to put the plants in the ground before the summer ends with the hopes of getting a pomegranate next year.