Collection: Olive

Olive trees bring silver-grey evergreen leaves and a relaxed Mediterranean look to a patio, a sunny doorstep or a gravel garden. The range here runs from mini bushes and mini trees in small pots to young trees and clipped standards around 100 to 120cm tall.

An olive needs full sun, shelter and sharp drainage. In southern and coastal gardens, given those three, it comes through most winters outdoors. In colder or wetter areas it's safer in a pot you can move under cover for the worst of the winter. Cold, wet soil kills more olives in Britain than frost does, so use a free-draining, gritty mix and never leave the pot standing in water.

Most olives here are grown in containers, which keeps them a manageable size and lets you move them. In open ground, given long enough, an olive can reach 4 to 8 metres. It copes with salt air in a seaside garden but not with a gale, so pick a sheltered spot.

Grow it for its leaves and shape. Fruit is unreliable in a British summer.

The best planting months are March to May and September to November. Grown peat-free in Yorkshire.