Choosing a New Design for Your Home and Garden

If you fancy bringing a touch of the Mediterranean to your garden, you might like to consider growing an ornamental olive tree.  Olive trees produce attractive flowers during the spring and fruit during the summer time.  Olives grow well in warm, sunny climates, yet they are surprisingly hardy during the winter months.  Your local plant wholesaler is a good place from which to source your ornamental olive tree, as they'll have a wide choice of varieties on offer.

Read on to find out how to ensure that your ornamental olive tree thrives in your garden.

Where to site your olive tree

Olives love the sun, so you'll need to site your olive tree in a south- or west-facing position where it will receive maximum sunlight and be protected from chilly north and east winds. 

Olive trees will happily grow in acidic or alkaline soils, as long as they are well-draining.  If your soil is very sandy, you'll need to add a mix of organic compost so that your olive tree gets the nutrients it needs to grow.  Olives won't grow well in heavy clay soil, so if this is the soil type you have, you might need to grow your olive tree in a container instead.  Choose a large pot and use a good quality, multi-purpose compost.

Care for your olive tree

Olive trees require little maintenance.  Water your tree lightly and frequently during the hotter months, and feed it with seaweed extract every couple of weeks during the spring and summer time.  This will ensure that your tree stays healthy and grows vigorously.

A small amount of pruning will be necessary to keep your olive tree in an attractive shape.  This work should be carried out during the late spring and summer.  It's not recommended that you prune your olive tree during the autumn and winter months.  This is because olive trees need heat to heal pruning 'wounds' and must have time to recover before their winter dormancy.

Olive trees are pretty hardy, and as long as the minimum winter temperature remains above -5 C for the majority of the time, your tree will be fine.  However, during long periods of sub-zero temperatures, it's advisable to protect the crown and trunk of your olive with layers of horticultural fleece, available from garden centres. If your olive tree lives in a container, wrap several layers of bubble wrap around the pot to prevent the roots from freezing during periods of very cold weather.

Ornamental olive trees are easy to grow and can add a touch of the Mediterranean to your outside space.  Contact a local plant wholesaler for more information on ornamental trees.