Pomegranate Blossoms: Dropping Like Flies

I don't like this one bit. I was all sorts of excited about the pomegranate plant I bought last summer. I gave it a nice big pot and lots of water and sun and it produced about 15 flowers this spring.

The buds have been growing, and 3 opened recently. Which got me EVEN MORE EXCITED. The blooms are just beautiful.

Alas, my joy was short lived. The flowers are opening one by one and then dropping all of their petals before falling of the branch. The first time it happened when I was watering, and I was so upset with myself for knocking off the bloom. When I realized a few days later that it wasn't my fault, I felt somewhat relieved that it wasn't preventable. And also seriously bummed out about the same fact. I've had 3 blooms drop now, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. My gardening lady friend, Annie, tells me this is fairly common in young pomegranate plants. All of my online research says the same thing. Womp womp. A couple of the flowers are looking a little more plump at the base, so I'm hoping I get at least one pom this season.