Choosing an Olive Tree for the UK Garden

Few trees do more to transform a garden than a well-chosen olive. Their soft grey-green leaves, sculptural trunks and Mediterranean character can completely change the feel of a courtyard, terrace or entrance, and, perhaps surprisingly to many people, they do very well across most of the UK.

At Sutton Manor Nursery, olive trees are one of our signature specialities. We import mature specimens with real character and age, many of them beautifully gnarled and shaped by decades of Mediterranean weather. This post covers the key things to think about when choosing one for your home.

Can olive trees really grow in the UK?

Yes, and increasingly well. Mild winters, warmer summers and milder coastal microclimates mean that olive trees have become a reliable feature of British gardens over the past two decades. They are drought tolerant, wind tolerant and cope with poor soils that would struggle to support more demanding plants.

That said, they do have preferences. Olives love sun, good drainage and a position sheltered from the worst winter winds and hard frost pockets. In very cold, exposed inland sites they may occasionally need protection in prolonged deep freezes, but for the vast majority of UK gardens they are genuinely easy.

Choosing the right olive for your garden

The term “olive tree” covers a huge range of sizes and styles. At one end, you have slender, elegant young specimens perfect for a modern planter scheme. At the other, you have magnificent ancient trees with enormous characterful trunks, the kind that become the single most striking thing in the garden. In between, there are clipped topiary shapes, half standards, full standards and multi-stemmed forms.

The right choice depends on what you want the tree to do:

• For framing a front door or terrace entrance, a matched pair of clipped-head olives in handsome planters is hard to beat.
• For a statement specimen in a courtyard or on a lawn, an older, gnarled tree with a characterful trunk becomes a permanent feature that only gets better with age.
• For lining a terrace or driveway, younger standards offer consistency, formality and good value.

It is worth seeing trees in person where possible. Olives are not uniform products. Each one has its own silhouette, trunk and character, and finding the right personality for your space is part of the pleasure of buying one.

Olives in containers versus the ground

One of the great advantages of the olive tree is how well it takes to life in a large planter. In fact, many of our customers deliberately choose containers for the flexibility and the way the tree sits within a wider scheme. A mature olive in a generous resin bonded planter makes an instant focal point on a terrace or by a doorway.

Planted in the ground, olives thrive in any free-draining soil in full sun. Avoid heavy, wet clay pockets. If you have clay, raise the planting position slightly and improve drainage with plenty of grit.

Care and maintenance

Olives are delightfully low-maintenance compared with most specimen trees. A simple annual prune in late spring keeps the head balanced and allows light and air through the canopy. Feed in spring with a slow-release fertiliser and, in containers, be more attentive to watering during extended dry spells.

In very cold winters, fleece protection is advisable for container-grown trees in exposed positions, and planters should be raised slightly off paving to prevent frost damage through the base.

Why buy a mature olive

Olives grow slowly. The difference between a small nursery sapling and a tree with real presence can easily be twenty years of growth. Buying mature means the tree starts working for your garden immediately, rather than years down the line. You also get the character of age: the curves, the burls, the weathered trunk that a young tree simply cannot offer.

If you are thinking about an olive tree for your home, we would love to help you choose the right one. Please visit us at the nursery to see our current selection, or get in touch and we can guide you through the options.