Last February i bought a Pomegranate plant, a grafted one. Though half a feet in height it had beautiful red blossoms. In the hope of harvesting a couple of fruits, in a few months time, i brought it home.
My hopes fell apart............... when... one by one the flowers dropped. I tried my best to protect the plant. But the flowers couldn't withstand the Hyderabad summer and their new abode - my balcony which turns into a furnace during summer.
To my delight, the plant survived the summer and a new batch of buds appeared. Buds turned to beautiful red blooms. I anxiously waited for the flowers to develop into fruits. Tch ! Tch ! the flowers 'floored' once again.
There was no green-thumb around, so i turned to Google. And discovered that the non- fruition was due to the absence of pollinators - bees, butterflies etc. When we first came to stay in this place there was an abundance of bees and bee-hives. The human invasion has forced them to leave the area - lock , stock and barrel. What next? To Google once more....There i came across hand - pollination. With the newly acquired knowledge i waited for the next batch of blooms.
And when the buds appeared i was ready with my brush. As soon as the buds burst into blooms, my brush did the job of the pollinator.
I waited with bated breath. In a few days i saw the result. There was a slight bulge below the calyx.
The pomegranates developed a blush in winter.
