Sweet Olive Question

Do sweet olives do well in containers provided they receive the proper amount of sun/shade? I had 3 in the ground and lost all three to the salty storm surge from Gustav/Ike, so I thought I'd put some in containers up on the porch away from the flood waters we get every year. They will get sufficient sun there and sufficient shade,

Thanks.

Kaye C

If nobody here knows, you might also try the Fragrant Gardening forum, I know there are a lot of people over there grow these. I have one but it's in the ground so I don't know how it would do in containers. I expect they'd be OK at least for a few years though.

Kaye, I have a very large one in a 20 gal pot here in Iowa, it stays outside in summer half sun/half shade and back inside in winter.Blooms year round for me.Use an evergreen fertilizer once a month and water when dry in pots.Sit back and enjoy.I love these guys.Sooooo sweet smelling.Mine is about 5 ft tall and two feet wide.If it doesn't freeze where you are leave them out all year but protect from a hard frost.

Kyle :-)

Hi Kyle: It freezes here, but not very often and usually not for long. Most people here plant their sweet olives in the ground and don't protect them. There is nothing that smells as good as sweet olive. They have a big one outside the library branch here and I don't even notice it until I walk by, and there is that smell!

It made me sick when I lost those 3 a couple of weeks ago. I had just re-done my entire yard from Hurricane Katrina when I lost everything, including my house here at the same location. I built the new house up 17 ft. and had it hurricane proofed as much as is humanly possible. However, there was not a thing I could do about storm surge. Silly me - I should have remembered this is an every year multiple happening whether we have a storm or not. My citrus trees and magnolias and Knock Out roses did ok. Believe it or not, I had beautiful knock out roses blooming like crazy and rising above the dirty flood water. I should have taken a picture.

Anyway, thanks for letting me know they do ok in pots. I'm going to put them up on the porch where the water can't get them.

Kaye

Hi Liz: Not much response from Fragrant Gardening. Maybe everybody's out enjoying the pretty smells this time of year. Kyle was kind enough to answer all the way from Iowa!

kaye c

Oh well, it was worth a try! I know I've seen this plant discussed fairly frequently over there, but maybe everyone's growing it in the ground.

Kaye did you also know that the fragrance on sweet olives is light triggered, thats why they don't knock people over at night.Sunlight really scents them up, cloudy days not so much.Night almost none. Just an observation.Biggest one I ever saw was in Hollywood (calif) in the 80's was taller than the house (1 story) and about 5 feet across, I was walking down the street and smelled it, followed the scent and was amazed by the size of it.Had a huge trunk.They grow so slowly. Had to be about 80 years old.

Kyle :-)

Kyle: Amazing! I didn't know that. My porch will be the perfect place for them then. Sunny. Thanks for the info.

kaye c