Olive Trees (Olea europaea)   

There are around 750 million olive trees growing worldwide – so how about having one in your garden!

Although part of the Mediterranean landscape olive trees can be grown in more temperate climates like the one found in the  UK – particularly in the south and west of the country. They also thrive in urban areas where buildings create a warm microclimate. Whilst they like to be sited in a sunny spot with freely draining soil, mature trees are surprisingly cold tolerant. Olive trees are also excellent container plants and create a dramatic focal point making them well worth the initial investment.

Olive trees are surprisingly robust and old trees transplant well allowing you to create a striking and atmospheric feature in your garden.  There are a number of excellent suppliers of these highly desirable and unique trees.  As you would imagine the older the tree the more you can expect to pay – around £50 will buy you a fairly young specimen whilst £1000 will enable you to have an amazing tree 150 years or more old.  Excellent value when you consider that this is under £10 a year for the trees life so far!  

How long can a tree survive?

This may make you wonder how long olive trees live for - it is believed that the oldest olive tree in the world is growing in Western Crete in the village of Pano Vouves, this incredible tree is thought to be 3000 to 5000 year old and the perimeter of the trunk is 12m! A branch from this tree was used in the opening ceremony at the Olympics! There is a museum to visit at Vouves dedicated to these ancient trees.

The world’s oldest olive tree photographed by

Lois Berkihiser

How are these trees moved?

This amazing picture is from Tropipalms a fantastic Spanish nursery selling a huge range of very old olive trees. This photo is just one of a series showing how these extraordinary ancient trees are transported by lorry. For details of how to buy these specimens follow the link below to their website:

Transporting Some Very Old Olive Trees

(which amazingly survive this treatment well)

 http://www.plantas.net/olive-trees.htm