Olive Trees to use in Gardens

The Olive Tree

 

An Olive tree is a live witness of a secular heritage, carrying flavour of the most antique civilizations. These trees play an important role in the Mediterranean economy, namely Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy, and were a constant over the years in every culture along the Mediterranean Coast.

Roman slave picking olives
 

Several are the references made to olive trees in the Bible showing that they were very important for the Hebreus, both economically and spiritually. However, the origin of olive trees seams to have been in the Middle East with references that date back 6.000 years. There is no agreement between researchers on the exact origin of the species: some historians point at Persia, others turn to the Valley of Nile River, while some support the idea of the Jordan Valley area. Therefore, most researchers think that the possible location was between rivers Tigers and Euphrates, which through time was the home of several ancient civilizations as the Sumerian, Mesopotamian, Assyrian and Arabian, today the heart of Iraq.

 

 

 

History

 

The first evidence of cultivation for the picking of olives and the production of olive oil are directed to the isle of Crete, in the Mediterranean area, dating back to the years 5000 to 2500 B.C. But the first written records date back to 2500 B.C, where the minoic tablets demonstrate the importance that these trees and its products had in a world dominated by King Minos of Crete.

Van Gogh painting of the olive tree
 

In Ancient Egypt, olive oil was generally used for public lighting. The Nile Valley's fields were the home of the first mechanic procedures for the extraction of olive oil, which principles are still followed today around the world. Within the Egyptian civilization, olive oil was used in the kitchen and was very popular for therapeutical purposes, being on fashion at the time the olive oil bath. From the spiritual point of view, there are records of the use of crowns made of olive tree branches for the funerals, starting with the Pharaoh. The Phoenicians, consummate travellers, were the ones responsible for the dissemination of the olive tree along the coast of the Mediterranean sea, from 1600 B.C. This is how the trees got to the Greek islands, where some centuries later the Greek Civilization appeared, giving great importance to olive trees and its products.

 

Bonsais

 

Designed trees through ornamental pruning (Topiary)

The pleasure of Bonsai, miniature trees, ornamented and developed by a long living Japanese tradition, is now very popular in our country. Olive trees are also good trees for the bonsai art, through careful and shaping pruning creating geometrical shape trees very common in this form of art.

The final product with its appellative look, becomes specially apt for passing areas, avenues, terraces, exhibition or commercial areas, different style stands or gardens.

On the whole, these are trees that make a huge impact by its sizes and shapes.

The geometrical shapes or the characteristics of this art can be requested, as long as made in advanced in order to guarantee the preparation period.

 

Our Olive trees are raised in a plant nursery, under optimized conditions for healthy and safe growing. We have a vast number of trees to satisfy a client's order, with different heights and prices. We are sure that among the specimens we keep in our plant nursery, the client can find the one that he/she is looking for, due to the available variety, with different size tops and branches for every taste.

There are more than a thousand trees ready for delivery, and the land extraction and transport is guaranteed by our specialized service.

 

Land Excavation and Transport

 

Our olive trees are extracted from, apart from our own plant nurseries, their natural habitat areas, that are normally in risk of being changed by human intervention. This allows us to save ancient samples that would be in risk of been transformed in fire wood, as it happened widely in the Alqueva dam area and in the flattened lands for the construction of the IC22 road or other roads, complexes, construction works in Portugal and in Spain.

 

The task of transporting an olive tree from its growing area, normally our plant nurseries, to its final site, appointed by the client, is a complicated art whose steps have been studied and developed by our team throughout the years.