My frantoio is on year 5 now in the ground without many issues other than a little of tip die back when we had freezing rain one winter. On the other hand, my Nocellara del Belice died in year two to the cold and rainy spring I think.
@andybarr, nice to see you post here.
How are your olives doing?
Are you going to collect your scions yet?
John S
PDX OR
No my bananas are growing out side completely .
LMAO i was like what is he holding rabbit or deer poop for LMAO ok now reading those look pretty good for Black olives
Arbequina, in ground, planted late February 2025
Someone had previously asked for olive updates so Iâll post progress at least annually.
Iâm planning to give the arbequina a buddy nocellara this year or next
2 Likes
Finally dried up enough for me to start pruning and nearly all of my trees are already at silver tip!
Theyâre usually not at this stage until mid February!
2 Likes
I visited an Olive orchard in Dundee, Oregon recently called Durant Olive Oil. Several acres of olives and the oil is outstanding. For $10 you can tour the orchard, olive press and taste all the oils and vinegars with some excellent bread.
Standing there, looking around, the entire scene reminded me of Sonoma County. There were massive agaves, large hedge of paddle cactus with fruit, endless acres of grape vines and olive tree plus tall, robust palm trees. Itâs remarkable how similar the Willamette Valley is to the Sonoma Valley. Despite the occasional arctic blast up here, most of the same plants thrive in both locations.
My neighbor in Salem has several healthy, old olive trees, currently loaded with fruit. Gotta be 100 pounds of olives on the ground. I took a video yesterday. Since this site wonât host videos, here are two screen shorts of the ripe olives still on the tree.
I also have a couple olive trees that set fruit. But they are only about 4 feet tall and dropped them before they ripened.
5 Likes
The Marion County Demonstration garden in Salem has several gorgeous olive trees.
1 Like
Do you know varieties of olives in the orchard you visited? Or the tree in your neighborhood. Our mild winter so far has probably been great for an olive crop this year.
1 Like
Thereâs a guy in Amity who has a business called Oregon Olives, I think. He recommended Frantoio to me as the best one to grow here, but I told him I wanted it for the medicine of the leaves. Also just as a cool tree.
John S
PDX OR
3 Likes
Theyâve got several varieties. Donât know all the names. I also have a plot nearby in the same garden where I planted subtropical like feiijoa, citrus and loquat. Iâll ask next time I see him.
1 Like
Thought people on here might like to see pics of some huge citrus trees in Portland that are loaded with fruit. Also one of Winnâs avocado trees that I planted in the personâs orchard.
The trees in these pics are Washington navel, oro blanco grapefruit, and the Rincon Valley avocado. Winn grafted it with scions I harvested from a tree growing in a Northern California valley with fairly cold winter conditions.
8 Likes
I havenât heard of medicinal olive leaves, please educate me! 
I donât just jump on every new fad. I just kept hearing from all of these MDs, naturopaths, osteopaths, etc. about the value of olive leaves. I gather them, chop them up a bit and put them in glycerine for about 6 weeks. You can also put them in say, vodka, but I personally donât think thatâs as good for you. I keep reading about them. Check them out on pub med.
John S
PDX OR
1 Like
From the last several years experience Iâve learned to try and take my scion cuttings in December. Unfortunately, I caught Covid just before Christmas and Iâm just beginning to feel well enough for outdoors work.
I went outside today to inspect my plum trees to see if I could still take scion cuttings. I should have known better, most of the plumcots/pluots and many Japanese plums are already breaking bud or close to it.
This has pretty much been the year that winter never arrived (at least so far). I donât think Iâve seen a day of frost since early spring last year.
I sure hope we donât see some nasty cold weather now, because everything here is already thinking itâs spring. Keeping my fingers crossed that a cold snap doesnât kill off all my early bloomers. Itâs supposed to be mostly sunny and in the 50âs this week, so Iâm sure way more will be blooming by the end of this week.
Seems like spring already.
1 Like
I read recently that the ocean surface temps are not conducive to any Arctic blasts this winter. Of course thatâs just a probability, and we could still definitely get some cold weather if everything lines up. Fingers crossed it doesnât happen!
1 Like
In Portland, weâve had frosts. Itâs 27 F right now. Iâm on the verge of taking some scions, so I donât lose everything. Itâs like gambling. Cut the odds of total loss.
John S
PDX OR
I didnât realize it had gotten so cold in Portland. I donât think we got below the lower 30s here.