Here's some info on growing in Fl. Seems like it would be easy to grow

except for the possibility of root rot from summer wetness. But if your

soil is sandy and well drained it should do OK.

http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/fruits/olives.html

The spot where I'm going to plant it is on a slope, so I don't think it will stay too wet. I picked that spot because what I read said it liked to be dry. I imagine since olives are grown in the desert, that would be common sense, right?

DG yes they like it dry. It's a lot like growing a oak or a apple. Some leaf blight or scab should be expected.

Oh, Glenn, you know everything! Thanks so much. I'm not sure I have enough full sun for it, but I'll figure something out.

DG please let me know how it does for you. In Greece, where I grew up, olive trees are everywhere. In fact olives and olive products ate the #1 export.

I would love to have an olive tree here, so if yours does well I may try one.

Bea - I'll definitely let you know.

Ben - My challenge will be the full sun part. I have none, and giving it a big space to itself is going to be next to impossible, but I'm going to do the best I can. It lived in the shade in this 2 gal. pot with absolutely no care for two years, so whatever I give it will be better than that, for sure! I can give it more sun in the winter than the summer, sadly, but the summer sun is afternoon sun, so maybe it will be happy with that. If not, I'll find someone to give it to who has full sun for it.

Olive trees grown for oil are really common in landscaping in Phx AZ. A lot of people have allergies to them. I used to see a ton of them there. They like the arid climate.

arbequina olive trees can be found easily at walmart in one gallon pot for about $7, sometime at lowes on their clearance racks for $3, that is how I wound up with so many trees. These are all generated by cuttings and as I pruned my trees last fall and threw away enough wood to generate a few thousand cuttings I will ask for anyone interested in cuttings next time I prune my trees.

Do the squirrels amd birds get all the olives? Do squirrels even like olives?

olives are bitter even when ripened and I don't know what wildlife, if any, eats them raw, I have seen neither birds nor squirrels go near the olives......

FWIW.... olives are cured or pressed for oil.... to get a gallon of EVOO you need 80 lbs of olives (from what I have read)..... so, I will cure them and just use pickled/cured olives for table. Kinda/sorta what you see at publix market by deli at the olive stand where there are at least 8-10 different cured olive types.

They are such pretty trees that designers in NYC and elsewhere use them as indoor plants. So if I never get one olive, at least I'll have a beautiful tree. I'm going to have to trim it back, so maybe I can root some cuttings and create a bonsai. I saw one on a website and it was so beautiful!