O for Olive

There are two aspects I want to cover for the Olive bonsai tree. Firstly, there’s the Olea genus which has about 40 accepted species on the list. While that provides quite a bit of variety, the only two species I consider worth having as a bonsai are the European and the Cape olive trees. Their scientific names are O. europaea and O. capensis, respectively.

Besides delivering you delicious olives you can feast on, the Olive bonsai tree is also popular in many households, especially where I live. To some, their leaves are too drab, but they have beautiful flowers in the spring that spread down the length of the branch. I also love how the underside of the leaf has a silvery sheen, which glistens if you turn it to face the sunlight.

I have a wonderful Olive tree I bought a few months ago to turn into a bonsai. I left the leaves are they were for the winter, but the new spring is showing new leaves. The time is coming when I will be deciding what shape and style I want to design for this bonsai, but you can see it in its rough form above.