full brutal sun, freq. water til established, then let it fend for itself unless extended drought conditions. However, I don't think it can withstand the cold of z7b. can you post a pic? curious as to whether a wild tx olive or one from the olaceae family. Maybe container grown and brought indoors during winter....

Thanks for the quick response. I don't really know the family but I will try to take a pic tomorrow and post it. I have a sweet olive oamanthus on the south side of my house,,,been there for over ten years and is as tall as my house. I love the aroma.

I was travelling a back road I'd never been on north of Georgetown yesterday and saw a large Olive orchard. (Are they called orchards, plantations, ???) I don't know if its producing yet as the largest trees are probably only around 6' or so. They looked really healthy though. This was northeast of town, blackland prairie.

I have three south of Dallas about 45 min. Two are planted in the ground one in a pot that I didnt have time to plant. The ones in the ground have done the best. I'll wait for spring now to get the third planted. The two in the ground get full sun and I didnt think I watered enough but they made it through the summer. They are all three Arbequina and a quick search said they are grown in Oregon, and Ohio so I dint think the cold is an issue for mine. They all produced though.

TJ, how tall do you expect your olive trees will be at maturity?

8-10 feet, though they are only 3-4 currently.

seems like they'd be olive groves.

I got one at the Ft Worth swap last autumn, followed directions & put it on the southwest side of the house, away from the dripline of the eaves, & protected it when the temps dropped into the 20's. seems like it's hardy once established.

Have watered it maybe twice this brutal summer, & it looks like it's happy!

I finally got my grandson to help me post a pic. Can you tell the family.

It's a real 'olive' olive tree, not the more tender 'Mexican olive' which is not in the same family, but produces an olive shaped fruit. How neat that they've twisted the trunks together to give it character.

FYI I think olives, like citrus, are grown in groves or orchards. I am going to get one if I ever get the chance.

The Natural Garden in Austin carries many types of olive in the spring and it does make a difference what type of olive one gets if one wants a hardy olive. There are several olive groves in around dripping Springs. A whole herd of groves

I have an olive tree in my orchard (of mixed fruit trees). I was so excited as this is the first year that I have had olives on my tree. Not a lot but look forward to continued growth and lacto-fermenting olives in my future.

Mizan (Mamachili) and Mike have three olive trees. I'm eating some olives that she picked and processed from her trees as I write. Delicious! She told me the variety name, but I already forgot. She'll tell us on this thread what variety and where she bought them.

Olives are one of those foods where you can't eat just one ... ummm ummm good!

Lol Ragna, mike said salt is not good for you.

Yes we do have two manzanillas and one arbequina olive trees growing really well in our yard in zone 8b on the southwest side of the house. They are about ten year old. I hardly water them but I do put several citrus spikes twice a year and they have been happy producing as much as 59 pounds in just one tree.

Have a go planting with olive trees if you like munching olives and don't mind spending time doing the pickling. They are also drought tolerant, no known pests and very pretty in a landscape. I will post the picture of the whole tree later.

Mizan

and this is manzanilla olive about 13 feet tall after I pruned it recently.

These two varieties, they look almost the same until they fruit. Arbequina gives little tiny olives and manzanilla big fat ones.

Oh we got the trees as three year old skinny about 3 feet tall from Sandy Oak olive grove near elmendorf Texas in 2007.

Recently we saw HEB plus and Central Market started stocking arbequina variety. They were about $28 for one gallon size pot which is about 30" tall.

A friend and I were stationed in Greece in the early 90's. We both ended up in San Antonio. There were so many areas around here that really reminded us of the Mediterranean area where we had been, my friend started looking around for an olive tree to keep in a container as a reminder of her time overseas.

None to be found. "The experts" told her olive trees wouldn't grow here. Not the right climate. Etc, etc.

Fast forward 20 years and I hear about an olive tree nursery called Sandy Oaks SE of SA and went to a couple of their olive oil festivals. What a neat place. Long story short, the lady who started it didn't listen to the experts, did a lot of research, a lot of trial and error, and was on the forefront of the olive tree (and olive oil) production in Texas.

Olive trees definitely grow in Texas, some better than others. Look up her website- lots of good information there.

Sorry I can't help with ID'ing your tree. I do know some tolerate cold better than others and they're pretty adaptable to a wide range of pH. On her website it mentions some varieties can tolerate temps as low as 14 degrees.

HTH

Lisa

Mizan! Hello! Hope you and Mike are well-

I have olive tree envy looking at your pictures. I might have to put it on the fruit/nut tree wish list. The list is getting pretty long :-)

Will definitely try to make the next swap with baked goods in tow. And hopefully some plants too.

Lisa