Olive tree at Big Plant Nursery, Sussex

We have published reports of pomegranates fruiting in Cambridge, a kumquat surviving in Sussex and now Lynne Brixius tells us that she has an olive tree growing in Suffolk, which produced some fruits last year. 

Here in this small market town on the edge of Suffolk I have again been surprised by my garden, this time a small back yard with mostly pots. I have an eight year old olive tree and over the years I had not noticed it much even though it is opposite my back door, growing up against a 6 ft wall in company with my precious François Juranville rambling rose, both were in pots, side by side. The yard gets  three patches of sunshine, when it shines, diminished by the very high roof shadow from the very high roof of the converted church hall I live in.
 
Gradually my guests, exploring the plants crammed into the small space  21 ft wide x 10 ft deep, in various pots and mostly doing well, with one small bricked bed where I grow a magnificent white camellia and assorted foxgloves, fennel, winter sweet, Daphne odorata and mint all out of reach of my little digging dog, began to comment on the olive tree’s growth. ‘It’s growing out of its pot’, said my daughter. Seeing that she was right I had a  four brick high wall built around the tree and the rose so that they  both had room to grow.

This was in  September  2007 when the tree measured 6 ft tall, as high as the wall against which it was placed and happily spreading its graceful, grey leaved branches on either side of the trunk. The rose grew too, and has now been tied back to the top of the trellis here and there ready for next summer. But the olive has grown to 10 ft in four months!

The compost used for the new bed was John Innes No 3 which I imagined was appropriate for both plants, but I never imagined the Jack and the Beanstalk growth the tree has made in four months! I never thought it would start reaching for the sky, but it has, and begun to bear fruit in the summer.

The olive tree, and rose in summer, give a shape and colour to what is a boring back yard that is hard to describe. I feel so lucky, as though the plants themselves have done their best to help me through the darkness of this poor winter.

I guess this is not a unique experience for gardeners of all kinds. I hope there will be others who can share their joy and fascination with their gardens however small and originally unpromising. Let me know. I love hearing about gardens, such a necessary adjunct to our lives.

Lynne Brixius

Photograph kindly supplied by Big Plant Nursery, West Sussex, who have a large stock of olive trees: www.bigplantnursery.co.uk

Olive trees also available from  Flowerart at Brogdale, Faversham, Kent: www.flowerart-uk.com