This is it's second year flowering. Last year all flowers were male and there were not many flowers last year. Here are some photos of this years flowers, just a few of the (I estimate over 50 flowers on this bush already).'White (L. E. Cooke)' was also called 'White Sweet'. A lot of pomegranate cultivars are called 'White'.
This cultivar is said to have originally been from the 'Middle East', it was imported to the USA by 'Chico State University.
The 'Chico State University' then test grew this cultivar in 'Chico, California'.
'Mike Spratley', 'a Co salesman with 'L. E. Cooke' since 1979', he become a 'graduate of Chico State', and still working for the nursery he managed to get the nursery 15 to 20 'white pomegranate cultivars' from the 'Chico State University'. 'Chico State University' brought in many cultivars of pomegranates 'from the Middle East', and those white cultivars were some of them, those cultivars were trialed for years by 'L. E. Cooke', with the aid of 'Mike Spratley'. During these trials best fruit and production were the main goals. Two of those cultivars were chosen as the very best. 'White was one of those top two. The 'L. E. Cooke nursery' had started to sell the 'White' cultivar of pomegranate, first selling it under the name of 'White Sweet', then renaming the cultivar to it's current name, 'White'.
This cultivar is Cold hardy, no damage 'at least down to about 11 degrees Fahrenheit', bush has not experienced colder yet. It's disease resistant! Very fruit rot resistant.
Bush grows to up 12 feet tall, with a spread of up to 12-15 feet. Be careful, this cultivar is loaded with very sharp thorns when there is fresh new growth, so sharp and so many of them, that I decided to get the following rose pruning gloves from a local nursery, ones that protect the arms as well. Here are the gloves https://westcountygardener.com/rose-gloves/
This cultivar produces fruits with yellow skin/brown dots that has a pinkish or reddish blush mainly to one side. The 'skin', the "fleshy mesocarp", and the 'endocarp' of this cultivar are all very thin.
It's fruit are medium to large. Inside the 'fleshy mesocarp' there is very little white with a bit of pink, large translucent 'rose pink' jewels are found further in, which are much easier to remove 'than the average store bought pomegranate fruit'. This pomegranate cultivar is said to be the sweetest of all cultivars. Very juicy and sweet when ripe. Has a flavor resembling red pomegranates with not even a hint of tart if picked before ripe, when picked perfectly ripe it is very sweet, with a strong yet certainly not overly powering flavor. It's very hard to describe the flavor, yet when perfectly ripe it has a berry like flavor, sort of like a clean soft cranberry flavor combined with a flavor that is vaguely like green grapes, yet more berry like than that. It's juice does not stain. It's blooms are orange-red. This cultivar is self fertile (Self-fruitful). It's first fruit starts to ripen early to late-September before Wonderful, and it's fruit continues to ripen until late-October. Requires 150-200 chill hours (temperatures below 45º F). This cultivar produces young, and it's high production.
L. E. Cooke's PDF about 'White (L. E. Cooke)' https://www.lecooke.com/Images/Fruits_&_Nuts/Pomegranates/White-Pomegranate(RGB).pdf
Here are some photos of this cultivar posted by a 'Bob Ludekens' https://www.creatorspalette.com/Ag-Horticulture/Fruit-Trees/Pomegranates/White-Pomegranates/
The following photos were taken Thursday, April 9th 2020, about 3 days after the first flower was sighted on this bush, about 1 week after our 'Salavatski' bush started showing blooms. Yet our 'Salavatski' is 7 years older than this bush, earlier flowering with age. This bush has so much more flowers than our 'Salavatski' that it's shocking, despite the 'Salavatski' being so much bigger!
This is the same 3 flowers from different angles, sorry it was very windy when I took the photos
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This is that same single flower, with another flower showing to the bottom
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