{"id":2516,"date":"2018-09-24T06:05:02","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T14:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=2516"},"modified":"2018-09-24T06:07:40","modified_gmt":"2018-09-24T14:07:40","slug":"a-tale-of-two-olives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/a-tale-of-two-olives\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two Olives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The name may invoke the devil, but the fragrance is angelic<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are hoping to grow an olive tree in eastern North America and proudly incorporate your homegrown fruits into martinis, tapenade, or empanadas, you are destined for disappointment. \u00a0The handsome European olive\u2014Olea europaea\u2014needs a warm winter climate to produce its toothsome harvest.<\/p>\n

But other members of the Oleaceae or olive family do flourish farther north.\u00a0 I ran into one the other day on a walk through a nearby park.\u00a0 The small tree in question bore handsome, glossy green leaves, each of which was two to five inches long, opposite on the stems and oval-shaped.\u00a0 The leaves told me the plant was likely an evergreen; but the flowers screamed \u201colive family\u201d.<\/p>\n

The small, clustered white blossoms exuded a fragrance that was noticeable from several feet away.\u00a0 My daughter thought it was reminiscent of \u2018iced tea-lemonade\u201d.\u00a0 To my nose the blooms smelled a little like jasmine.\u00a0 Perceptions of fragrance vary from person to person, but the sweet scent of olive family members is distinctive.<\/p>\n

I wanted to know more.\u00a0 We collected a fallen twig, with leaves and flowers still attached, and took it home.\u00a0 I started research.\u00a0 Between reliable internet sources, like the Missouri Botanical Garden, and reference books, including the incomparable Manual of Woody Landscape Plants<\/em> by Dr. Michael Dirr, emeritus professor at the University of Georgia, I found my way to the useful and decorative genus Osmanthus.\u00a0 Osmanthus is a card-carrying member of the olive family and home to some very good ornamental shrubs and small trees.\u00a0 I have one species in my front yard, Osmanthus heterophyllus or false holly.\u00a0 It is a medium-size shrub with green, prickly, holly-like leaves that are marbled in cream.\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t trim it fairly regularly to maintain a respectable size, it would produce white, fragrant flower clusters in September.\u00a0 I know I am missing something by not allowing it to flower, but if it grew to its maximum height, I would be missing the front windows of my house.\u00a0 Every gardener makes compromises.<\/p>\n

My research narrowed down the plant choices to two osmanthus species, Osmanthus fragrans, also known as fragrant tea olive, and Osmanthus americana, sometimes known as Cartrema americana.\u00a0 The latter also goes by devilwood, American olive or wild olive.\u00a0 Both species sport glossy ovoid leaves and extremely fragrant clusters of small white flowers.\u00a0 Both are evergreen and can be grown as shrubs or small trees.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the difference between these two ornamental olives?\u00a0 The biggest difference is cold hardiness.\u00a0 Fragrant olive, native to the Himalayas and parts of Japan and China, is hardy only in USDA plant hardiness zones 8b-11, which means that winter minimum temperatures must remain above 20 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 Even if you live in an area that rarely sees 20 degree winter temperatures, you still should be concerned about wind chill during the colder months.\u00a0 When in doubt, it\u2019s best to grow your fragrant olive in a large container and move it indoors in winter.<\/p>\n

Since the osmanthus that I saw in the local park was a mature specimen rising happily from the soil, I figured it could not be a fragrant olive.\u00a0 I live in USDA plant hardiness zone 7a, where minimum winter temperatures can occasionally sink to five degrees Fahrenheit, with wind chills that sometimes make the actual temperature much, much colder.\u00a0 It is highly unlikely that fragrant olive could survive in my climate for the number of winters it would take for it to reach mature size.<\/p>\n

The osmanthus in the park is probably American olive or devilwood, native to the American southeast.\u00a0 People who look for secret meanings should be aware that the nickname does not come from any infernal associations.\u00a0 Osmanthus americanus produces extremely hard, unworkable wood, which has made generations of craftspeople invoke the devil when trying to cut and shape it into useful objects.<\/p>\n

The wood may be problematic, but the tree is lovely.\u00a0 Each fragrant bloom is fused at the base to form a short trumpet.\u00a0 The scent and shape of the flower clusters is as alluring to pollinating insects as it is to humans.\u00a0 While I was sniffing the \u201cdevilwood\u201d blooms, I was competing with a monarch butterfly, scores of skippers, various types of bees and a gorgeous, diurnal moth, the ailanthus webworm or Atteva aurea.\u00a0 The osmanthus was literally throbbing with life.<\/p>\n

Perhaps best of all, the blooms appear in early fall and may continue all the way through until spring.\u00a0 This is a help to pollinators, not to mention humans in need of inspiration as the days grow shorter and darker.<\/p>\n

As time goes on, I will watch the tree to see the long, dark purple to black fruits that succeed the flowers.<\/p>\n

Michael Dirr says, \u201cDevilwood is by no means a common landscape shrub, but deserves consideration\u2026\u201d\u00a0 If I could find a suitable site on my property, I would plant one without delay.\u00a0 In the meantime, I have ordered a small fragrant olive to grow outdoors in the warm months and indoors during the cold months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you want to grow American olive, you may be hard-pressed to find a retailer that supplies it.\u00a0 You can order from Mail Order Natives, P. O. Box 9366, Lee, FL 32059: (850) 973-7371. www.mailordernatives.com.\u00a0 Free newsletter. \u00a0For fragrant olive, try Logees, 141 North St, Danielson, CT 06239; (860) 774-8038<\/a>, www.logees.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free print catalog.<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you are hoping to grow an olive tree in eastern North America and proudly incorporate your homegrown fruits into martinis, tapenade, or empanadas, you are destined for disappointment. \u00a0The handsome European olive\u2014Olea europaea\u2014needs a warm winter climate to produce its toothsome harvest. But other members of the Oleaceae or olive family do flourish farther … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[1958,1957,1334,1959,1956,1955,1953,1952,1954],"class_list":["post-2516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-cartrema-americanus","tag-devilwood","tag-fall-flowering-shrubs","tag-flowering-evergreens","tag-oleaceae","tag-olive-family","tag-osmanthus-fragrans","tag-osmathus-americanus","tag-wild-olive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2516"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2521,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions\/2521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}