PlantFiles: Olive Tree
Olea europaea

We have two olive trees - one is an arbequina, which is about 8 ft tall and the other is about 4 ft tall. I don't remember what kind the second tree is, only I remember that we got it to boost the production of the first tree. They have been in the ground for 4 years now.

They are resilient trees. They have survived our Austin summers and winters without much care from us, despite our dense soil.

At the time we purchased these trees, I was told by the person who sold it to us that they "won't produce the first year, but after 2-3 years, the arbequina should be". At his advice, I bought the second tree.

That nursery closed down (RIP Howard Nursery). For some reason I am told now by nearly any nursery/gardening center still surviving in Austin that olives "just don't set fruit around here".
I know that this can't be true because there is a producing olive orchard less than 20 miles away, and yet we have yet to see a single bloom or olive.

i got two Olive Tree here in south sweden , and they thrive here , in winter they get protection , they have seen -15c -13c ( 8,6F 5F ) with only snow as protection . they drop some of there leafs but they regrowe well and recover well in spring . hardy against snow,hail,frost,storms,drought etc.
give water in summer and they will grow well , frost simulate the plant to blossom well

It appears that these plants are more tender when young and harden to frost with age. We have two trees growing on a south facing slope here in SW France. We are not in the right area to have a Mediterranean climate, but they have survived a hard frost that cut all the Acacia dealbata to the ground. I don't know the details as this was before we were living here.

We've had one of these growing well in a terracotta pot in our Vancouver, BC (Zone 8) garden for three years. This past winter is survived a week long freeze with temperatures down to -13C. and is now growing well. There is a farm on Pender Island between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island that has a large number of olives but at this point the trees are not mature enough to fruit. The main danger in our climate is exessive winter moisture, but I have read they are hardy to 10F.

Densely cultivated since ancient times around the Mediterranean, olive trees still form a basic part of the the landscape, provide the superb oil, give peace for prayer and firewood for the winter. They yield from their 4th year, and they produce a lot even after 5 - 6 centuries.
There are many varieties, and they differ in terms of water needed - light required etc. It is to my surprise, that ancient trees (like the one in the photo) will produce many very tasty olives if pruned, fertilised and watered. THe plants that are more than 5 - 6 years old will survive a very long dry summer without water, but will produce more and grow bigger if watered, of course.
Nowadays olive trees are propagated with cuttings only. The old locals in Crete believe that seed propagation will result in the "wild" olive, a very decorative and hard wood knotty tree, which later needs grafting to produce the desired variety of olives.