Indoor olive trees

[Ric.ror]

I am thinking about buying a pair of the olive trees fom M&S.
I was wondering would they be ok to have in the living room - I suspect they would not last through the winter up here

[boxtops]

You might find they grow very leggy indoors...

You'd be surprised how hardy they are. We have had an olive tree in a tub in our garden for the last ten years, and last year's winter was particularly hard. It came through absolutely fine, we don't cover it.

[Ric.ror]

Oh Boxtops - do they take a lot of looking after?
I basically want a water and leave it tree

[Ric.ror]

Sorry - thanks for the answer

[FredPuli43]

They are very hardy. Mine is about 10 metres now, and is in the ground, having survived all our winters completely unscathed. But it is growing on chalk, in South Cambridgeshire. They like the soil to be very free draining, so their roots are never remotely waterlogged, as chalk provides.

You have to bear this in mind when keeping one in a pot, particularly when considering what medium it grows in and how much water you give it. Otherwise, the usual considerations apply for pot growing.This includes having a pot which is suitably large, lest the whole thing freezes solid. I don't think the tree in the garden has ever suffered all the soil around its roots being frozen solid, even in a bad winter.

[Exmothian]

Water and leave it ?

Plants are like children, they need to be cared for or they will not survive! Olives can stand several degrees of frost, but they won't like to have wet feet , so nice open free draining compost, or cover and keep dryish through the winter , and feed annually ... See the RHS website for instructions.