Olive trees have been cultivated for so long — some living specimens are believed to be over a thousand years old — that their gnarled, silvery-leaved form has become a living symbol of endurance itself.
Native to the Mediterranean basin, olive trees thrive in hot, dry summers and mild winters, tolerating poor, rocky soil that would challenge most other fruiting trees, and their small white flowers give way to the olives prized for eating and oil production.
Olive trees want full sun and well-draining, even rocky or poor soil — good drainage matters more than fertility. They're only reliably hardy in mild-winter climates (roughly zones 8–11), though smaller potted olives can be brought indoors over winter in colder regions.
The olive branch has symbolized peace since antiquity, a tradition tracing back to ancient Greek mythology and reinforced through the biblical story of Noah's dove returning with an olive branch.
