Any hope for my olive trees

[wonderstuff]

I’ve 3 olive trees in my garden, been here 3 years and they were fairly established when we arrived, but now all 3 are bare and looking quite lifeless, there’s another few established semi-deciduous shrubs, no idea what they are, but all look quite dead. I’m thinking super hot summer plus very wet March has just been too much?

Might the olives recover?

im going to need to plant some more shrubs, what could thrive in a chalky, well draining Hampshire garden? Soil is awful, my herbs seem to be the only things thriving at the moment.

I think mine died in that super cold weather we had before Xmas. So many things in the garden died

Have the olives lost all their leaves? I have 2 & they both still have their leaves atm.

Yes two have lost all their leaves and one has lost most. It’s so sad, loved those trees. Garden looks dire at the moment, so many mature shrubs dead.

Are they in pots or in the ground? If in pots prune all the branches back by a third and give them a good feed . Liquid seaweed should help them . If they're in the ground there's a good chance they'll come back . All olives respond really well to an Easter chop

They’re in the ground, I’ll prune and keep my fingers crossed, thank you

I visited an olive grove last time I was in Italy. Some of the trees were over 500 years old. Now, I know the conditions in the south of Italy are probably somewhat different to your garden but the point is these are hardy plants. I wouldn’t give up hope! Agree to prune them back and cross your fingers.

Can I jump in and show my container olive trees? I'm assuming the brown spots are due to the periods of real cold we had in Jan/Feb as they appeared after then. Or too much rain?

I'm scared to prune, @Vicliz24, but will do, based on your advice. I've googled but not found a how to (am not an experienced gardener at all!).

Mine looks the same sparkling lime but I’ve given it a good feed and hoping it will
perk up soon.

will definitely give it a chop - never done it before 😬

Do not give up on them. Olive trees are super survivors and will withstand for decades and more.
I have one that looked really bad when I got round to planting it, once in the ground, is seemingly started dying and just as I was giving up, I noticed some new growth. It looks really happy now.
I'd say prune, and wait.

Also do not feed or water, they actually like poor soil, as long as they have been well planted and their roots have been able to take, that's basically all they need.

We have got really poor soil, and they’ve been in the ground apparently thriving for 4-5 years, so I was surprised. It’s funny how attached to trees we get, my shrubs look awful, but I can replace, not the end of the world, but the trees I am so fond of.

I live in Spain and have olive trees and honestly they could probably withstand a nuclear winter, they’re really hard to kill. They don’t need any water at all - give the bark a scratch and see if the tree itself is still green inside (ie not dead), which I’m sure it will be. Definitely give it a bit of a prune just to shock it into making some new leaves (literally cut the ends of its branches off, that should do it).
Also as PPs have said, don’t water it. Where I live we get very little rain and it doesn’t bother them at all.

Honestly a prune will never hurt an olive . I actually reduce mines branches by half and they send out lots of new leaves and come back thicker and healthier every time . I do mine every Easter.

Can you see any tiny buds appearing on them. Some trees don’t grow their leaves until later. They could just be stressed from extreme weather. I would wait till June July and if they still just look like twigs you’ve probably lost them. I planted a bare root crab apple tree about 4 years ago that resembled a twig until last year when I’d made the decision to dig it up. By the time I got round to it , it had suddenly sprouted leaves and is just showing tiny buds this year

I’ve pruned my favourite, biggest tree today, didn’t see any buds but I’m going to keep everything crossed. The other two have some leaves still, I’ll give them a trim this weekend, but those two at least should be okay. Looking at the leaves on the ground they look quite fresh, I haven’t been in the garden much recently but I think it’s been the rain that’s got them, the soil near the tree that’s lost all it’s leaves is really damp.

Lots of mature shrubs are looking very dead so I’m clearing a large bed and gives me an excuse to start over.

I’m really hoping that my olive tree has survived. The front of it has lost its leaves in the cold weather but the back looks ok.

It was eye wateringly expensive (almost £500) and I’ll be gutted if it doesn’t make it. We have also lost two big bay trees this winter and a years old rosemary bush.

@Schmutter some leaves remaining sounds promising. My tree has lost them all. I've cut it back but no sign of green in the stems so I think I'll move it out of sight, out of mind.

My old bay tree took a hit but it got frosted about 12 years ago and recovered. My two new bay trees look a bit miserable. But I'm most upset about my Daphne which has lost all its leaves - it would usually be flowering and smelling wonderful. It has to be the slowest growing plant I've ever bought and I was so happy it has grown. It's next to a hedging fushia that looks like it needs digging out as well. I lost all the pelargonium and salvia in the greenhouse as well (I never heat it....).

Still. I'll learn. I need to choose hardier plants. No hydrangea, echinacea etc. Just lots of catnip, sedum and roses!

It will be fine . Just Pune the branches at the back . Olives do lose a lot of leaves in Spring bizarrely.

I'm actually not an olive whisperer but I do just love them . Photos attached are my biggest in the ground tree that gets reduced by a third every other year . I literally chop it's top off and the following year just prune it . The other two are of a potted olive that was really struggling. Last year I gave it a brutal chop and in the close up photo you can see the leaves coming back around the cuts .

Here's mine post the pruning PP suggested

Pruned mine at Easter ish as suggested. No new growth yet, just some tiny buds. But leaves look less happy. Have been watering to keep bedding plants which share the containers happy. Possibly upsetting the olives further. Any advice, @Vicliz24 and others? Many thanks.

That was previous photo, this is now:

I cloud prune mine each year later in the summer after the new shoots start making it look shaggy again. Only just getting those new shoots through now. Think it didn't enjoy the winter/spring! I remember Monty saying they respond well to pruning and mine seems to enjoy it.

No advice but just wanted to post a photo of our biggest and oldest olive tree - probably around 2,500 years old and still fruiting.

Wow! What an ancient beauty!