Gardens: Beguiled by olive trees

Fashion may be Folly’s child, but that never stopped gardeners, when the urge was on them, from planting something à la mode.

Fashion may be Folly’s child, but that never stopped gardeners, when the urge was on them, from planting something à la mode. That must be why olive trees (Olea europea), natives of the rocky dry soils of the eastern Mediterranean, are now so widely planted in British gardens. Prince Charles has them at Highgrove and they can be seen each year at Chelsea Flower Show so, hey, we all have to grow them, don’t we?

If you want them to survive unscathed our new-style, old-style cold winters — especially if you live in an exposed rural location — you will have to wrap them up like mummies in horticultural fleece or bring them inside under glass. Young plants cannot hack anything below –10º C, so you can’t even think about growing them if you live in Sutherland or Shropshire, although mature trees are a little hardier. Olives grown in pots, which are kept almost dry in the winter, will survive much better than those regularly watered. Except in the sunniest parts of the south, you will be lucky to achieve ripe olives; if you are set on trying, it is best to grow a selected cultivar, like ‘Frantoio’. Olive trees planted in the ground, rather than in pots, need a light, free-draining, limey soil in absolutely full sun.

Despite these potential difficulties, I am almost as beguiled as everyone else. Although steadfastly immune to the charm of tender palms, lantanas, cannas or tree ferns, which have become so popular in recent years, I do love an olive, for its ever-grey, narrowly oblong leaves, its biddable, clippable habit, and its scented, small, white flowers in summer.