Just a quick question for the experts here. I have close friends looking for to plant an I'm ground pomegranate in northern Alabama. Are there varieties that would do well in ground? If yes what is a good way to grow them? I assume cuttings would work.

Salavatski pomegranate has been grown in Pennsylvania with protection. It does better than any of the other pomegranate in my zone 7b/8a. Growing from cuttings works but it is not as easy as figs

I think you're likely good into zone 7 for most varieties, maybe plant with some protection from northern winds.

I have not had good luck growing them from cuttings, at all. Air layering works well, my success rate for cuttings, is close to zero, compared to figs, close to 100% over several seasons.

It's strange to read that pomegranate is difficult to propagate by cuttings.
In my experience is easier to root than any other fruit (except grape vine), and of course more than figs: i managed to root even small twigs attached to the fruits, without any trouble, or simply putting the branches into the ground, without any other care apart some water in summer (the techniques used with figs may yield negative results, better to put in a pot and water just occasionally).
Of course suckers work better, even without roots.
I can not recommend any hardy variety since i have not problems with the climate, and the varieties available here are not there.

I currently have Ariana, Parfianka, Sumbar, Sumbarskii, Al sirin nar, Salavatski, and Myatadzhy cuttings going. Not sure how they're rooting(they're in pots with potting soil and bag covers), but almost every single one of them have put out leaves. This is my first time with pomegranate cuttings, so no idea if leaves = roots, but they're looking good! It's taken them a while, but temperature has been up and down near Dallas, Texas(high of 60s one day, 80s the next. Lows down into the 40s). So I'd say cuttings would work if my leaves are a good sign.

2 years ago - I took cuttings from a large Pomegranate bush (ornamental variety) - I stucked both in not-so-good soil in the ground and both took off.  They are grown 4 feet tall in no time.  This year - I got 4 cuttings from USDA and all four seems promising.  The leaves are budding out nicely.  I cut those cutting in half - so, I have 8 sticks about 8 inch long.  I have 4 in the ground with compost and manure.  And, 4 in the 3 gallon pot.  Among all fruit trees cuttings I tried (Plum, Peach, Apple, Pear, Mulberry, Fig) Pome seems the easy one to root.  One word of caution  - even though the cuttings leaf out - there may be no roots underneath.  So, I never bother to move around the cuttings and leave it in the same place for a year at least.   Make sure the soil/potting mix is moist but NOT soggy.  I also mist the top once a week.  I use diluted sea-weed to mist and water.

Good Luck 

I agree with Fico. I am not so good at rooting figs, but for rooting pomegranates, I am a G. I have salavatski pomegranate trees in zone 6b. I get fruit from them every year ( with microclimate and minimal protection). It is a delicious variety and way better than "wonderful" variety that you can get in the supermarket. I've tried a few other hardy varieties, but they are too late to harvest. I am very happy with this variety.

I root my figs using clonex gel in thin plastic bags with roughly 75% graded perlite (I only keep larger than 1/4in, the rest is used in the garden) and 25% graded peat. I put them next to my freshwater planted fishtank which I get light spillover from some really high quality T5 6700K and 5000K bulbs. I also use a turkey baster and fish tank water to keep my cuttings moist, roughly 1 or 2 times per week. This has been extremely successful for me for figs, literally close to 100% since I started doing it this way vs plastic cups. Maybe it's the higher humidity, but I've not had any luck this way with pomegranates, but if anyone can confirm or point to a better way I'm definitely interested. Poms grow great here as well. I have a few all non-wonderful varieties growing, my favorite so far is one called Austin.

I have two pomegranates in the ground and both produce very well (40 plus giant 1.5 lbs fruits and 40 roughly 1 lbs fruits from each each) 

In my experience, you get lots of shoots coming out of the base of the tree every single year, that its a pain to have to prune the base every other week. The easiest way to propagate is to get one of the base shoots that is a bit deeper and try to get even a small piece of root with it to ensure success. The variety I have is called "wonderful" and it lives up to the name. It has deep burgundy flesh with sweet and slightly tart flavor. The seeds are somewhat large but you get used to it. I highly recommend this variety for taste, production etc. Only caveat is that it took them about 3 years to start producing fruit and each year quantity and size improved to get to the current production level. The 80 per year is after 10 years in the ground and the tree size, fruit quantity and size are both still growing. One tree is around 11 ft and the other is 9 ft tall. The smaller one is only ~3 feet away from my most favorite and most prolific fig tree and I don't have the heart to remove either one. I trimmed the fig to grow tall to minimize the overlap, but its still an epic war for sunshine between them, like the song by Rush called "The Trees" (I win either way)        

Pomegranates are essentially maintenance free trees, rarely need to be watered or to be fertilized and they still do well. They are naturally a bush rather than a tree so if you want it to look like a tree, you must prune a lot of the shoots that seem to be coming out of everywhere. Other than the pruning for tree shape, this is one of the easiest and most abuse tolerant fruit tree you can grow. These should do well in Northern Alabama  as long as they are planted in full sun. ( I am in Northern California with likely similar temperatures)

Here is a link to the Alabama Pomegranate Association:

http://alabamapomegranateassociation.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/alabamapomegranateassociation/