Olive Trees Grow In Bc
Selecting early to mid season ripening varieties and growing the plant.
Olive trees grow in bc. An olive tree is easy to plant and grow often bearing some olives at a very young age. Some cultivars that flourish here are self fertilizing ones such as arbequina and mission grown for oil. There are other plants which bear the name olive so make sure to look for a european olive tree when you are growing olive trees. Olive trees are cold hardy to zone 7 and have been growing for centuries in the snowy mountains of northern greece italy and spain.
Saturna island bc one of the most southern gulf islands off vancouver island near victoria has quite an unusually semi arid micro climate that s suitable for olive trees. When planting your olive trees in a container choose a pot that is twice the size of the growing pot it was shipped in so that the roots have room to get established and also has drainage holes at the bottom. Since 2009 the saturna olive consortium has imported varieties that are proven to grow under these zone 8 conditions. There are many cultivars of olive trees and most new kinds come from italy and spain.
Lemons and olives now grow on vancouver island thanks to milder winters with cold winters and less than tropical summers most canadians don t think of growing lemons or olives. For more than a decade water lea farm has grown olives in the sub mediter ranean cli mate of south west canada. And manzanilla which is the typical california black olive suitable for canning. Olive trees growing on the sunny slopes of british columbia s gulf islands could turn into a unique cottage industry a three way partnership started importing olive trees.
That said olive trees will grow in the warmer zone 8 areas of the lower mainland southern vancouver island and the southern gulf islands. On pen der island one of canada s gulf islands farm owner andrew butt nur tures 100 olive trees to grow the fruit for table olives and the future goal of pro duc ing and sell ing the first made in canada extra vir gin olive oil.