Olea Europae

Hello everybody!

I was mooching about a garden centre at the end of November and came across this little olive looking particularly sad in the corner of a room.



I took it home and (probably wrongly) pruned it back pretty hard, with the intention of leaving it for a year or two and then trying to turn it into something interesting. Over the past three weeks it has sprouted quite considerably (all of this is new growth) and I was wondering if there is anything I should do at the moment to help it on its way?







I don't have a real plan for it at present so any suggestions would be very welcome.

Cheers, Phil

Oh, dear. Not a good time of year for hard pruning on a sub-tropical. See suggestions to Storm on the same topic.
Where are you keeping it?
As far as the pruning is concerned, you have two heavy branches competing with the main trunk. You can't do anything about it now, but you will have to address the problem next summer.
Iris

Hi Iris,

Thanks for your response. At present it is being kept in a bright kitchen window. So you would advise to just leave it completely and then revisit it during summer?

Cheers, Phil

Check out Graham Potter's article

http://www.kaizenbonsai.com/shop/the_olive_tree_as_bonsai.php

Tim,

Thanks for that - very informative.

Cheers, Phil

APW wrote:At present it is being kept in a bright kitchen window. So you would advise to just leave it completely and then revisit it during summer?
Cheers, Phil

If it doesn't lose its leaves, let it alone until spring. Even so, supplemental lighting wouldn't hurt. The article was very helpful, although not exactly for my climate.
Iris

Thanks Iris,

Very grateful, I'm sure I'll be asking more questions about this when the spring comes!

Cheers, Phil