Olive Trees

The Olive Tree Project

Olea europaea 'Peace'
Initiated by Mr. Douglas Lang Stevenson

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To order an olive tree please click here.

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The Olive

The olive is a powerful 'Tree of Peace' and is an ideal gift to grow in remembrance of someone or as a gift of friendship or suitable to mark special occasions such as weddings, christenings or birthdays. The olive has also long been associated with immortality, holding a special place throughout history for its strong symbolic and spiritual significance.

Background

Douglas Lang Stevenson was a consultant surgeon and before his death in 1985, experimented with growing olive trees in the U.K. He believed "That when the olive tree grows in every part of the world, not for commerce but for its presence, peace will have been established on Earth." Following much experimentation, he found a form of olive which has proved to grow outdoors in the U.K. This tree is now growing successfully in the Wildlife Garden at Glastonbury Abbey and all my trees are grown from cuttings taken from this original tree.

During the early 1990's the trees were passed on to me. As recently as 2001, there were only a handful of plants remaining and as the custodian of this variety I started to propagate new plants from cuttings. Having spent the last few years raising more plants of this olive tree, I can now offer plants for sale with the reassurance that this variety is safe from extinction.

A 12 year-old specimen of Olea europaea 'Peace' growing happily in a pot in Devon. Root restriction has helped to control the vigour of this tree.

A 12 year-old Olea europaea 'Peace' growing happily in Kent, which can experience bitterly cold winters.

Hardiness & Winter Protection

Firstly, it should be said that there are many different cultivated varieties of olives and most are either not hardy or need a lot of protection. It seems that many of the small-leaved forms are tender. Olea europaea 'Peace' is a very large-leaved form and I think that has a lot to do with it's success in growing outdoors in various parts of Britain.

Are olive trees hardy in the British Isles?
Although not generally regarded as a hardy tree in Britain, this form of olive is known to be growing outdoors successfully in various parts of the country, north and south. This variety seems to be particulalry successful as it is vigorous. This enables the plant to photosynthesise efficiently and therefore, it grows quickly putting its roots down and away from the frost zone at a young age. It also means that the stems fatten up rapidly so it can become strong enough to stand cold winter winds.

The best chances of success will be by planting your new tree directly in the garden in the spring or planting into a much larger pot in good compost. All evergreen plants in outdoor containers can struggle in severe freezing weather, including some very hardy plants like rhododendrons. If the pot becomes frozen day and night and a breeze is blowing, the plant will continue to loose water through its foliage which cannot be replaced as the water in the pot is frozen solid. Consequently, it will start to use up all the spare moisture in its leaves to survive. Once all that is gone, the leaves are sacrified as a last desperate act of survival. Container grown olives will behave in the same way and the pot they are growing in should be kept wrapped in severe weather (usually December to February) for the benefit of keeping the exposed roots from freezing. If you have a very tender variety of olive, it must be protected indoors or in a frost-free greenhouse.

When it is finally planted outdoors, choose a sunny place protected from the east and northerly winds. If you have clay soil, you should improve the drainage with plenty of gravel at planting. You can expect flowers in the early summer which will develop fruit, but do not expect the fruit to ripen. Even in hot Mediterranean climates the fruit are not harvested until November or later. The summer of 2006 was hot enough for fruit to develop on some of my trees. Sadly, we still much more sunshine in Britain before a regular harvest makes it anywhere near the kitchen!

Fruiting

Olive trees have been gaining popularity in Britain in recent years as we have been having consistantly warmer winters and there has been an increased realisation have mature trees are quite tough. However, one of the most asked questions is "When can I expect to pick my own olives." Trees can fruit quite easily but the fruit will only ripen in a good summer. So, rather than expect a regular crop you are best taking the approach of 'if it fruits it's bonus'! I have had mixed reports of olive trees producing fruit in the UK and much depends on your locality, soil, shelter etc. But much more depends on the particular variety you are growing. Unfortunately, due to the high demand for plants in recent years, there has been an influx of various unnamed varities arriving to the British Isles, mainly from Italy and Spain, some of which seem to produce fruit and others which don't. I have had some fruit on some of my plants as young as two-years-old. In good summers, the fruit have even turned from green to black. Like many other plants, olives seem to produce more flower when grown in a pot, probably as this restricts the roots. But good flowering then has to be followed by a good summer for any chance of fruit ripening.

There is still much to learn about growing olives in this country and I shall be doing further work on this over the coming years.

Processing the Fruit for Eating

When an olive tree produces ripe fruit, it is not possible to pick it and eat it immediately, as the fruit is far too bitter. They must be cleaned regularly as part of the processing to prepare them for the table. As I understand it, there are various ways of doing this. Basically, having picked the ripe olives, they should be laid in trays of clean water. The water needs to be changed every two or three days until the olives no longer taste bitter. This may take a month or more. Fresh or salty water can be used although I believe the process is quicker when using saline water but the flavour of course will be affected. Finally, the berries can be stored in jars of fresh or salty water and kept in the fridge, or preserved in olive oil which can be flavoured in any number of different preferred ways.

Making Olive Oil

If you are fortunate in having your trees fruit, then it is far easier to produce your own olive oil than processing the fruit for the table. Simply gather your ripe fruit, crush them using a grindstone (which of course we all keep at the back of the garage!), and then squeeze the juice through a press (another everyday object!) Your oil is now ready for use and will initially appear very green. the colour quickly fades to a more golden yellow but its eventual colour will depend on the variety used. Incidentally, it takes about 4.8kg of olives to produce a litre of olive oil. So, what are you waiting for, get bottling and please let me know how you get on!

Some of you may be interested to know that one British farmer is hoping to grow olives commercially in the UK. Mark Diacono has planted 120 olive trees on 17 acres near Honiton in Devon in the last few years. He is hoping to be the first to produce a commercial crop of olive in this country. Interestingly, I have been told this year of a Greek family living in London who are already harvesting a small crop from their olive tree(s) at their London home and processing them for sale. If you know any more about this lead, then please do make contact with me. So there really could be a hope for all of us.

Varieties

Today there are over 1,000 named varieties of Europaean Olive. Some are hardy and others need winter protection. All will produce an edible olive under favourable conditions, some of which are best harvested when green and others when they have turned black. Even in warm countries, a cold winter can finish off a potential harvest. Many modern varieties are now being bred for colder climates and commercial olive production has moved away from the traditonal Mediterranean heartland to new places around the world. Some of the most productive modern groves are now in North and South America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

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Olive Trees

Pax vobiscum
Peace be with You

Grown outside in the UK, to be grown outside in the UK

To order an olive tree please click here.

For care instructions, please click here.

Olive Trees

Olea europaea 'Peace'
Initiated by Mr. Douglas Lang Stevenson

Christenings
Christmas
Easter
Birthdays
Friendship
Weddings
Remembrance

Plant an Olive in Remembrance

It can be difficult to know how to help those suffering a bereavement. Often, a plant is chosen as a memorial and an olive tree is a good choice. Choose a message of sympathy when ordering and I will gladly add this to the tree when being packed.

An olive branch is an internationally recognised symbol of peace.

"The olive tree is surely the richest gift of heaven"
Thomas Jefferson

An interesting initiave is Peace Oil which is produced in Israel by Jews, Arabs, Druze and Bedouin working together. The award-winning extra virgin olive oil produced is being sold to encourage co-operation between communities. Profits from Peace Oil are being used to support peace and reconciliation work in the Middle East.

For more information go to Peace Oil.

PLEASE NOTE
Currently, I only send my olive trees by post within the United Kingdom & Ireland.