Little Ollie® Dwarf Olive

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Watering can be reduced after establishment. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. Pruning time: winter.

A small olive with all the Mediterranean look and feel without the size or the fruit. Shrub forms produce beautiful single plants, or line them up into a natural or sheared hedge. Particularly useful along driveways and streetside where reflected heat from paving and vehicles would wither less heat hardy species. Trained as patio trees they make outstanding potted specimens, a pair flanking a classical sculpture or an Italian style wall fountain is hard to beat. In ground these patio trees are ideal in vine pockets and along walkways where staccato repeats create bold a semiformal style.

These little olives are perfect with Provence French Lavender, (Lavandula x intermedia 'Provence'), Lavatera x clementii 'Inovera'), Purple Delight Lilac Hibiscus, (Alygone huegelii 'Monle') and Tuscan Blue Rosemary, (Rosmarinus officinalis 'Tuscan Blue'). For brilliant color pair with more tender Oo-La-la Bougainvillea, (Bougainvillea 'Monka'), Anouska Princess Lilies, (Alstroemeria x 'Zaprinous'), and Lemon Swirl Bush Lantana, (Lantana camara 'Variegata').

This dwarf fruitless olive was introduced by Monrovia in 1987. Its ancestor is Olea europea, the fruiting olive of the Mediterranean which descended in antiquity from a scrubby wild olive known in the Holy Land. This Oleaster angustifolia contributes the shorter stature to the contemporary plants. The olive was first planted into Southern California by the mission padres and have contributed to the early landscape character of that region.

A symbol of peace and prosperity, the olive has a long history in the western world, beginning with the ancient Greeks, who named their city Athens after the goddess Athena gave them the olive tree.