The Olive

It's difficult to tell, but this will eventually be the piece de resistence of the garden.  In the front yard, just to the right of the house is our olive tree.  Although, it looks a lot more like an olive bush at the moment.  It does measure around 11 feet tall and maybe 8 feet wide.  It just went in last June, so we're waiting until this fall to begin trimming the bottom branches to make it actually look like a tree.  Come November, one would actually be able to see the multiple trunks.  There are five.

It is fruit-bearing.  Unfortunately, we have no idea what type of olive it is.  We'll have to wait for the first fruit and then ask someone who knows about these things.  It's the one item in the landscape we did not plant ourselves.  It was the best money I ever spent, as I watched the gentlemen from King Landscape wrestle it off of a trailer and into the hole.  A 36" box, I learned, is out of our area of muscle power.  When asked what type of olive it is, the landscaper scratched his head and said he didn't really know.  Since this tree will last a lot longer on this earth then we will, I guess there is no harm in waiting to find out.

Next up this weekend is some work on the vegetable garden and some planning of the bed this tree, along with the lavender previously discussed, lives in.  Our goal is to have this whole bed planted by the spring.  I think we'll miss it by a few weeks, but should get it in before the heat arrives.  Stay tuned.