Collection: Olive Trees

Olive trees make an attractive addition to the garden with their silvery green foliage and a trunk that gradually becomes gnarled with age. They have an amazing history with their, oil, fruit and branches used across the millennia by many cultures. They can be very long-lived with some trees known to be thousands of years old and still producing fruit!

They are pot-friendly and can be grown purely for their beauty but with the right variety choice and a little care, they can also provide fruit for snacking and for making oil. An olive tree makes a very special gift idea!

Olive trees look wonderful as a feature or statement tree in a courtyard or garden whether planted into a garden bed or in a pot and they also respond well to espaliering and pleaching. They can also provide provide an attractive screen for privacy to separate spaces or to disguise unattractive walls or buildings. 

Fruit Tree Cottage stocks 5 productive varieties of olives that are known to be some of the more reliable fruiters in the South East Queensland climate: Arbequina, Arbosana, Del Morocco, Koroneiki and Manzanillo. We suggest planting more than one variety of fruiting olive as cross-pollination will maximise your yield. 

We also stock the Bamabalina which is a Dwarf ornamental olive tree plus the Picual that doesn't easily fruit in SE QLD, so is ideal as an ornamental tree. 

Olives start out green and then as they ripen they change to shades of deep purple and black. They are extremely versatile and once pickled or cured they can be used in many ways - snacking, tapenades, topping a pizza, on a cheese platter, thrown through a pasta dish, and in dips and sauces. Plus of course they produce a wonderful oil!

Olives respond well to pruning after completion of fruiting and most varieties can be kept comfortably to 2-3 metres high - though equally they can be left to attain their full height, which, depending on the variety is likely to be roughly 5-7 metres.