Olive Trees

Live Olive Trees for Patios, Landscapes & Home Orchards

There's something about an olive tree that makes a space feel finished. The silvery, wind-catching leaves and gnarled, sculptural trunk bring old-world character to a patio or landscape in a way few other trees can match — and unlike most ornamental trees, an olive tree gives you something back. With the right conditions, mature trees can produce fruit you can press into oil or cure for the table, turning a landscaping choice into a genuinely productive one.

Olive trees carry centuries of history with them, cultivated across the Mediterranean for both their fruit and their resilience in hot, dry conditions. That same resilience makes them a smart choice for modern gardeners who want a statement tree that doesn't demand constant attention. Once established, an olive tree is built to handle heat, drought, and the kind of inconsistent care that would stress out a fussier plant.

Choosing the Right Variety

We carry a handful of varieties, each suited to a slightly different goal. If you're after the fruit that Greek olive oil is traditionally built on, the Koroneiki Olive Tree is the classic choice — small, intensely flavored olives prized for pressing. The Mission Olive Tree is a California staple, well known for curing into table olives with a rich, robust flavor. The Frantoio Olive Tree brings the bold, peppery oil profile favored in traditional Tuscan pressing, making it a favorite among home growers who want to try producing their own oil.

If space or climate is the limiting factor, the Arbequina Olive Tree is the most practical option in the collection. It's the most compact variety we carry, priced lower than the others, and well suited to container growing — meaning it can live happily on a sunny deck or patio instead of requiring a full in-ground planting.

Growing Conditions

Olive trees ask for one thing above all else: as much direct sun as you can give them. All of the varieties in this collection need full sun to grow well and to have any realistic chance of fruiting. Beyond sunlight, soil drainage matters more than soil richness — olive trees tolerate poor, rocky soil far better than they tolerate sitting in water.

In terms of climate, the Koroneiki, Mission, and Frantoio Olive Trees are rated for growing zones 8 through 11 outdoors, making them best suited to warm-climate landscapes where they can be planted directly in the ground as permanent fixtures. The Arbequina Olive Tree is rated slightly differently, suited to zones 8 through 10 outdoors, and its smaller, more compact growth habit makes it the variety best equipped for life in a pot. That container flexibility means gardeners outside the traditional olive-growing zones can still keep one around, moving it indoors or into a sheltered space when temperatures drop in winter.

What to Expect as Your Tree Matures

Olive trees are slow, steady growers, and that's part of their appeal — they're not the kind of plant you buy for instant impact. Over time, the trunk develops the gnarled, weathered character that makes mature olive trees so visually striking, and with consistent sun and care, established trees can begin fruiting. Fruiting timelines and yields vary by variety, climate, and how the tree is cared for, so think of an olive tree as a long-term landscape investment rather than a quick payoff.

A Tree That Earns Its Place

Plant one directly in the ground for a true Mediterranean landscape anchor that will only look better with age, or keep a compact Arbequina potted by an entryway for year-round structure and a touch of old-world character without committing a permanent spot in your yard. Whichever variety you choose, you're getting a tree that rewards patience — both in how it looks over the years and, eventually, in what it produces.