Fruitscaping with Olive Trees

We were so excited when we found out it was possible to grow olive trees here in the South. These massive, long-lived trees require two things to be happy: temperatures above 10 degrees F in the winter and 300 hours of chill to bear fruit. That allows any one in zones 8 or 9 to grow their own olive trees. The trees are gorgeous, willowy evergreens with a misty grey color. They are fast growers and will bear in 3 to 4 years. The fruit is picked green, cured and then pickled for green salad olives or allowed to ripen to black for crushing into olive oil, or making cured black olives. Home cured olives have so much better flavor than store bought canned olives. The varieties that  fruit well in the south are known for their unique flavor and the high quality oil they produce. The trees are great choices for organic gardeners as they require little to no maintenance once established.

Olive trees have a classic Mediterranean look – gray and willowy. One of the most adaptable of trees, Olives can be planted out to grow into large shade trees, trained to espalier or grown in containers. You can use Olive trees to create an Italian garden, with rosemary, oregano and other Mediterranean herbs. Plant salt-tolerant Olives near the seashore, surrounded by lantanas and plumbago. Train an elegant weeping Olive against a sunny wall. Use Olives, trained as standards, in large containers for a formal look around a pool or on a patio.

Recommended Fertilizers for Planting and Maintenance

• Starter Fertilizer:  Plant with Espoma Organic Bio-tone® Starter Plus.  This will increase root mass and help avoid transplant loss in difficult planting conditions.
• Fertilizer to Maintain:  Our varieties of Olive Trees work great with Espoma Organic Citrus-tone Fertilizer.

Growing Guide

Click here to find our Full Olive Trees Planting and Growing Guide

Shipping Restrictions

We’re so sorry… but due to agricultural restrictions we cannot ship any plants outside of the United States, or to the states of California, Hawaii and Alaska. Also, citrus trees cannot be shipped outside of the state of Florida.

Here are some important things to know about your shipments

Unpacking Your Plants Guide:  Prior to receiving our plants, please click this link to read our Unpacking Your Plants Guide to get to know the steps to keeping your plant healthy after receiving it.

We do NOT ship bare root:  Our trees are shipped in the same exact containers they are grown in, for the most healthy transition. The plants are watered well before they are packed and wrapped in a shipping bag to ensure they stay moist during transit.  It’s as if you came and picked them up right from our nursery yourself!

Why do we not offer free shipping? At Just Fruits, we price all of our plants online exactly as we do in the nursery. Therefore, the shipping cost is simply what it costs for us to get your order from the nursery to you. Many competitors may increase the plants’ prices in order to hide shipping costs… we do not do that. We want our customers to see exactly what the plant costs are, separate from what the shipping costs are. That way if you decided to come visit the nursery to pick up your plants instead, you would know how much you save in shipping.

Weather Watching:  We now ship all year round! However, we do watch for extreme weather. If there is extremely cold or hot weather expected around your shipment date and on your path of shipment, we will contact you and notify you that we plan to hold the shipment for the next possible shipping date with better conditions. If you ask us to still ship it, through the conditions, we will not be responsible for any damage caused to the plant & UPS will not refund any claims. We love our plants, and do not want to see them die, so we would rather wait until it’s the right time to ship it, than risk losing a plant in transit.

Click here for more details on our shipping process.