Common Olive - Olea europaea
Sprouts of BristolScientific Name
Olea europaea (European olive)
Common Name
Common Olive, Olive Tree
Origin
Native to the Mediterranean
Description
The Common Olive has been the key to prosperity for ancient empires and modern chefs alike, with evidence for the use and cultivation of olive trees around the Mediterranean Sea dating back thousands of years. By owning your own olive, you can bring this heritage into your home! The olive's silvery bark and silver-green leaves are beautiful in their own right, and fruit from July to October. Olives grow slowly and don't reach a huge size, so they are great for growing in pots or in small gardens. If growing indoors, make sure it gets as much light as possible; if outdoors, give it a sunny, sheltered spot. Used to warmer climes, olives can suffer in the cooler British climate, but if you care for them well they can still fruit in the UK!
Light
Indoors, the olive needs bright light, so pop it in your brightest window; it will appreciate if it's warmer in spring and summer, too. Outdoors, it needs plenty of sun, but also shelter from the cold.
Water
Allow the top half of the soil to dry out between watering; reduce further in winter. If the soil is consistently moist this puts your olive at risk of rotting. Outdoors, it shouldn't need any extra watering except in sustained drought; make sure it is somewhere with excellent drainage.
Humidity
Adapted to the dry Mediterranean, the Olive doesn't need high humidity; rinse the leaves occasionally to keep free of dusts, and make sure it's not too close to an operational radiator.
Soil
Use a well-draining potting mix. Add plenty of grit to your soil to aid drainage; something designed for cacti and succulents should work well here. Repot every three to four years in spring as the plant grows.
Food
Feed every three or four waters in the growing season, reduce to every six in autumn and winter.
Temperature
Ideal temperature is 10-40°C; make sure it does not get colder than 5°C in winter. Can be grown outdoors when night temperatures are above 5°C; make sure it doesn't get more than an hour of direct sun if you move it though as it can burn.
Pet-safe
Yes, but too much nibbling won't be good for pets, small humans or the plant!
Sprouts Top Tips
It's a good idea to move your olive outside in summer and allow it a dormancy period in winter. When moving your plant outside, ensure it can gradually get accustomed to the sun (an hour of direct sun per day is enough at first, or it will scorch). When moving it back inside over winter, make sure to check for pests and quarantine from other houseplants. In winter, you should make sure it has lower temperatures and less water and nutrients, which will help it have a dormancy period and in turn grow better when spring comes back around.
Did you know?
The olive tree was said to be a gift from the goddess Athena to the city of Athens, in exchange for allowing her to be the city's patron. Given in a contest against the god Poseidon, the olive was judged by the people to be more useful than the god's saltwater spring.
Important Information
If you have any questions, please check out the below or get in touch via our contact formWe're devoted to sending our customers quality plants with the best service around. Every plant is backed by our 7-day guarantee, so they arrive in good health.
Our team takes extra steps when prepping plants for transportation, but they're still sensitive to changes, so there may be minor cosmetic issues. We always aim to photograph and disclose any flaws before shipping, but a living creature travelling across the country in a box can take a hot minute to adjust to its new life.
If you have any issues within 7 days of receiving your order, holler at our customer support team on our contact form with your order details and some pics of the issue. After the guarantee has expired, though, we can't refund as we can't guarantee care and environmental factors. If you repot the plant during the 7 days, the guarantee is void.
We have been sending plants up and down the country for many year now and we like to think we have our way down to an art.
We protect the plant from falling out of the soil with tissue paper and tape if needed, then we wrap the plant in corrugated cardboard, and sometimes we protect the leaves with extra tissue paper if required. This is then placed into a box and if there is any empty space, we fill this with void fill to stop the plants moving around inside the box. Sometimes we will write a note on your packing slip to water the plant on arrival, so please look out for this. This is due a freshly watered plant going in a box will not only be soggy, but as the plant is in darkness this can sometimes make the plant unhappy when just freshly watered.
If your plant arrives to you unhappy, please send us a photo of the plant and packaging if relevant straight away, so we can advise you.
Online orders are packed and dispatched within a few days. Usually depending on volumes, we aim to get your order dispatched within 1 working day. We have collections from Royal Mail 6 days a week so deliveries tend to be speedy.
Our standard parcel delivery service is £4.99 for Royal Mail Tracked48, you can upgrade to Tracked24 for £2.50.
We do offer a Tracked48 Large Letter option for £2.99, and Tracked24 for £1 extra, but this only applies to products less than 2.5cm thick.
*Deliveries 7 days a week only included Tracked24 parcels.
Link to your shipping policy
We get a lot of boxes, packaging and whatnot at Sprouts from all our various supplier's deliveries. We re-use this packaging material where possible, plus we take in donations from local businesses and customers to our shop to avoid excess packaging going to landfill. Sometimes your delivery might look a little different, or come in a branded box from another company, but rest assured the items inside are carefully packed with love and attention inside. We use paper tape and all our branded materials included are fully recyclable. Sometimes we use polystyrene, bubble wrap or plastic wrap in the packaging, all these items are not new and where possible, please use them again.
We have partnered with Zedify to offer low-carbon deliveries in Central Bristol for £6.99.
Zedify collect and deliver orders from us Monday - Friday and will usually deliver your order the same day its collected. If you place your order before 11am, we will aim to get it collected the same day but this isnt always possible. When you have received your dispatch email, Zedify should be delivering your order the same day, anytime before 6pm.
We cannot give an idea of time, but if you would prefer delivery on a certain date (Monday - Friday) please get in touch or leave a note at check out with your preferred delivery date and we will do our best to accommodate your request.
Zedify deliver to the following postcodes BS1, BS2, BS3, BS4, BS5, BS6, BS7, BS8 (1, 2, 3A - 3N, 4), BS9 (1,3,4).
Select click and collect at checkout to collect your order from our Bristol shop.
You will get an email when your order is ready to collect, where possible please come and collect your order the same day as we have limited space. If you are going to collect your order at a later date, please let us know in the message box at check out so we know when to expect you. Some items such as gift sets, kits and pre-order items may not be ready to collect the same day, again please let us know what day you would like to collect and we will let you know if there's any issues.
We do not offer free returns, but if you are unhappy with your delivery, please get in touch. If your parcel or order has been damaged, please take photos and send these over to our team so we can look into this for you.
If you have ordered an item and you would like to exchange it, we should be able to do this for you. There may be an extra charge for delivery, but get in touch to discuss. For plants there is a 7 day return policy and 30 days for everything else, apart from sale items which are none returnable.
You can return or exchange in our Bristol shop for free.
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