Is An Olive A Good Tree For Bonsai?

Olives are a well know Mediterranean fruit tree. If you have ever seen an old one, you know they can be very impressive looking, which is exactly why they are used for bonsai.

They are not super popular in Japan, but this is only because they are not native there. In Europe, where they can be commonly found they are very popular for bonsai and they can really be some of the best bonsai trees you will ever see.

Is Olive A Good Species for Bonsai?

Olive is excellent for bonsai. It is extremely tough and can take some serious abuse. They just love to grow and they grow aggressively. This makes them perfect for bonsai, especially for beginners as they take a lot of work and actually survive.

Their fast pace means they can be developed very quickly into bonsai and they have a lot of other great attributes such as tiny leaves and awesome bark which will allow them to be a great bonsai at any size you want.

More importantly, they respond very well to bonsai techniques and you can really get an olive to look like a miniature, but mature tree.

I would actually say this is one of the best trees you can use. You can read more about what other trees I picked in – What Are The Best Species For Beginners To Use For Bonsai?

Varieties Of Olive

You actually need to pay attention to what type of olive you have as some can be a lot better than others for bonsai.  

Fruiting Olive

If you go to a nursery and buy an olive it is most likely going to be the fruiting kind. This type of olive is not the best for bonsai. It tends to have longer, broader leaves that are just bigger overall. There are quite a lot of varieties of fruiting olive, kind of like how there are lots of varieties of apple.

If you have a fruiting olive, you can still use them for bonsai but you may not get the best results. You will be better making the tree slightly larger and you really need to give them as much light as possible to try and get good compact growth, which can be hard outside of the Mediterranean or other tropical climates. 

Wild Olive

The other type of olive is maybe something you have heard people mention… “Wild Olives”.

While these are usually trees taken from the wild, they are actually a different cultivar that has developed in the wild.

Basically when olives grow from seed they can grow a little differently to the parent tree and often do not produce fruit. If you are an olive farmer, this is a little risky; you don’t want to plant a field of trees only for none of them to fruit. If look at the fruiting trees you will notice they are always grafted. This way the seller/grower can be sure that the tree they have will always grow the type of olives that they want.

Wild olives are awful for fruit growers, but these varieties are far superior for bonsai. They have much smaller leaves and usually even faster growers. We are not worried about the fruit; we would much rather have small, more compact foliage any day!

Is Olive Foliage Good For Bonsai?

The foliage on olives is evergreen and of course they are that beautiful olive green colour. You will find the leaves are in opposite pairs along the branch.

Leaf Size

The leaves on an olive can be small, especially on wild olives. Some varieties have extremely small leaves which are the most ideal for bonsai. If you can find a tree like this it can make a world class bonsai.

Internode Length

Again, the internode length will be determined by the variety. The wild olives will have much shorter internodes. However, no matter what type of olive you have you can generally reduce the internodes down with pruning techniques which makes them perfect for bonsai.

Is An Olives Growth Rate Good For Bonsai?

The growth rate can be very fast with an olive. Given enough light and the right conditions they will grow like crazy. In cooler climates like the UK they can sit for a while doing nothing then have a very quick burst of growth.

Response To Pruning

Olives respond very well to pruning. They will always send 2 new shoots out at the set off leaves just below where you have pruned, but they will very often send many more.

You can very easily find 4 or 5 new shoots growing where you pruned. This means you will need to come back after pruning and check what is growing and potentially remove any unwanted growth. These extra shoots can very quickly cause ugly knuckles of growth to develop. This can be annoying when developing a bonsai, but this extra work is worth it.

Back Budding

Olives will back bud very easily. You can easily start a bonsai from just a stump and it will shoot new growth all over the place.

When your tree is more established you can still get bad buds all over the tree. This is usually after you prune. You will get the collection of new shoots where you prune, but you may find other buds shoot too. These can be along the branches or even on the trunk. You will just need to look out for these and remove any you do not want. 

Ramification

You can very easily ramify an olive tree which is what makes them great for bonsai. Their small leaves and internodes along with their aggressive growth rate and response to pruning makes them very ideal for building very dense foliage and ramification.  

Is An Olives Styling Ability Good For Bonsai?

You can really style an olive in a number of different ways. They work very well in a number of styles, but the choosing one is going to depend on the individual tree you are using.

Wiring

The growth on olives can be a little angular at times you will find that wire can help with this. You will find that the foliage can get very dense and you can do a lot to style the tree through clip and grow, but wiring is still going to help get that initial structure established.  

Is An Olives Fall Colours Good For Bonsai?

Olive is evergreen, so there is no colour change in autumn and you do not get to see any winter silhouette.

However, you may find some of the older leaves will change colour and drop off. This usually happens in spring when the new growth is taking over. This isn’t much of a display as it can only be a few leaves at a time but it is still interesting to watch a couple of leaves turn yellow and drop off.

Is An Olives Bark Good For Bonsai?

The bark on an olive is very ideal for bonsai. A young tree will have smooth and silvery bark which is nothing special. However, once a tree is aged the bark can be phenomenal.

If you have seen a full size, old olive you will understand what I am talking about. The bark is very textured and craggy and really just amazing to see.

Deadwood Opportunities

Deadwood can work really well on olive bonsais. Much of the character from old full size olives comes from their trunk as they can often be full of dead sections and hollows.  

Dead branches can sort of work, it will depend on the tree, but work on the trunk will always work very well.

Are An Olives Roots Good For Bonsai?

Olive roots are also great for bonsai. In general the olive will root with no problems. Basically if part of the tree is touching the ground, it will grow roots.

You can find plenty of videos of people flat cutting an old olive with a chainsaw, leaving no roots, planting it up and the tree living. They really are tough and really can handle anything you throw at them.

When it comes to bonsai work, you will need to repot often if you are using a small pot. The roots will fill a pot quickly, but you can prune the roots hard and build up some great fine rooting and dense root balls.   

Is Olive Easy To Care For As Bonsai?

Olives are very easy to care for. Being from the Mediterranean they prefer a lot of sun and they can be a little troubled by the cold, but overall they are pretty problem free and a very easy tree to care for as bonsai.

You can read more information in my Olive Bonsai Care Guide.

Conclusion

Olives are a great tree to use as bonsai. They look great and have all the right features. They also respond very well to techniques and you can really use their growth habits to produce a really stunning tree.

Some of the best bonsai trees you will see in Europe are olives. You should really get one for your collection if you do not already. 

I have a few Olive trees and you can see how they are developing:

Olive Bonsai Progression

Little Olive Bonsai (From Air Layer) Progression