Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-425
Olive
Olea europaea
Olive fruit is not eaten raw off the tree - it has to be cured in brine, water, oil, salt or lye before it is palatable, while the seed yields the pressed cooking oil. It is a slow, long-lived tree, taking about six years to bear its first fruit but yielding for fifty years or more, and it needs full sun and drought-tolerant, free-draining ground; standing wet ground does it more harm than heat ever does. A freeze that kills the canopy to the ground does not kill the tree - it regrows from the underground crown, though that costs a season's crop.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 8–10
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 5.3–8.5
- Plant type
- Evergreen Tree
- Mature height
- 20–30 ft
- Mature spread
- 15–25 ft
- Plant spacing
- 24–60 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Acai
Euterpe oleracea
Açaí Palm is a fast-growing clumping palm of the Amazon floodplain, sending up to twelve stems from one base. It is grown for the…
Canopy · USDA 10–11
Alligator Juniper
Juniperus deppeana
Alligator juniper is a slow-growing, long-lived evergreen conifer named for its thick, deeply furrowed, plated bark that resembles reptile…
Canopy · USDA 6–9
Allspice
Pimenta dioica
Allspice is a lowland tropical tree whose dried, unripe berries taste like nutmeg, clove and cinnamon in one fruit - which is exactly where…
Canopy · USDA 10–12
Almond
Prunus amygdalus
Almond flowers earlier than almost any other cultivated tree, which is its biggest weakness as much as its gift to early pollinators - a warm…
Canopy · USDA 7–9
American Basswood
Tilia americana
American Basswood is famous for the bees - mature trees hum audibly for several feet around when they bloom in early summer, giving one of…
Canopy · USDA 3–8
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia
American Beech is a slow, long-lived shade tree that can establish and eventually fruit even under an existing forest canopy, unlike almost…
Canopy · USDA 3–9
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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