1. Pomegranate placed on the tomb of Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536), Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, 12 October 2015. Catherine was the first wife of King Henry VIII, from 1509-1533. Born in Toledo and spending her childhood in Granada, Spain, Catherine adopted the pomegranate (in Spanish granata) as her personal emblem.

2. In Greece in olden times it used to be the custom to throw a pomegranate and break it on the floor before you entered your house for the first time in the New Year, it was thought to bring good luck. The fruit was considered to be very special by my ancestors. Now they call it a super-food … the wisdom of the past [Haringey, London, October 2009].

Images: main, Sparkhill, Birmingham, June 2015; lower inset, cultivated, Glenshiel Road, Eltham, London Borough of Greenwich, September 2022.