Gissarskii Rozovyi (it is also called 'Gissaiskii Rozovyi', Гиссарский Розовый, DPUN 0107, DPUN 107)
This cultivar was test grown in Russia at the 'Kara-Kala Turkmenistan Experimental Station'. The original cutting was most likely from a farmers field 'since it was a cultivated variety at the time'.
That 'Experimental Station' donated cuttings of 'Gissarskii Rozovyi' which were imported to the USA 'by Thompson Southwestern Arboretum' on January 22nd 1999.
This cultivar is a medium-sized tree, it lives well in containers, as well the ground, in the ground it can reach about 20 feet in height, it is very resistant to drought once it's well rooted in the ground.
This cultivar produces magnificent red 'trumpet-shaped', showy flowers in the summer.
Its fruit is Medium to Large, the skin of its fruit is 'salmon pink' and 'yellow' in color, with 'reddish streaks'.
The low acid 'garnet red' juice of even the sweetest fruit of this cultivar is bittersweet, bittersweet with a higher intensity on the sweet, with just a hint of tart. Its intense mellow flavor has been compared to the flavor that is known as, 'the common flavor of pomegranates', its flavor also has a finishing kick, 'similar to that of lemonade', with just the right amount of sweetness. The gleaming reddish-pink rose arils are somewhat transparent, sometimes they may be totally transparent, the arils are medium-large, and those arils contain tiny very soft tender seeds.
‘Gissarskii Rozovyi’ has won a few taste tests, one of those taste tests was for 'best tasting cultivar in a "cold" summer', a taste test that took place in Davis, CA", for that reason some people think that ‘Gissarskii Rozovyi’ does not require hot weather for successful ripening 'of great tasting fruit'! Its fruit ripens in Autumn, late season in November, and in December, although it does ripen much earlier in warmer climates.
This cultivar blooms in 'May and June', even earlier in warmer climates. This cultivar is self-fertile (Self-fruitful) although if there is a pomegranate of a different cultivar nearby it can increase fruit set by up to 20%. It's chill hours is '150 hours'
Very cold hardy, can sometimes regrow from its trunk, after die back to the ground, and still bear fruit. 'Gissarskii Rozovyi' is one of the pomegranate cultivars which you can try growing when your climate is too cold for the average pomegranate cultivar. Hardy down to at least -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit). Most likely it's more cold hardy than that.
