I have planted a few young trees in my life, and even have two grown from seeds, a lemon tree and a japanese maple tree. Rewarding experiences, but the joy of saving an olive tree is the most satisfying one.

Olive trees are very resilient plants, with a reputation of coming back even after fires. I guess that’s why olive branches are associated with hope since biblical times. Mine was discarded by a company after all the leaves dried. When I’ve seen it, I didn’t had much hope, to be honest. 

Taller than me and with a dense root system, in very dry and depleted of nutrients soil, I strongly believed the trust put into my abilities to save greenery is misplaced. Nevertheless, with difficulty, I removed the harden soil and thinner roots that seemed dead. Also, I removed all the dried leaves and some of the branches. 

At that time, I didn’t have any grit available and seemed I couldn’t delay the potting until next day. Best solution I could think of was to harvest the grit from the old soil, a tedious task indeed. 

Next, I mixed the salvaged grit with sand and multi-purpose compos. I’ve put the olive tree in a decent size pot with this soil mix, watered generously and placed it with the branches in the sunniest spot of my garden and the pot in the shade, under the ever expanding branches of a hydrangea, to retain moisture. 

After only a month I noticed some tiny buds on branches. To say I checked it every day for the smallest growth is an understatement. I was practically obsessed. I watched the cutest light green leaves emerging in tiny clusters all over the branches and even two on the trunk. 

Two months have passed since I’ve repotted and my olive tree has new branches, the leaves are a bit darker in colour and I am fully confident that is recovered. There are still a few branches that seem dead. I’ve decided to wait a bit longer before removing them. There is no need for unnecessary stress during recovery only for aesthetic purposes. 

I will need to protect the roots with some mulch over winter and maybe repotting in a bigger container in spring. Perhaps that is a good time for pruning as well.