Cold Hardy Olive? - Ask Extension
There are two olive trees near the corner of Selfridge and Ferrara that have copious amount of olives and are quite large. The larger was planted by ...
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Cold Hardy Olive? #852880
Asked October 11, 2023, 3:39 PM EDT
There are two olive trees near the corner of Selfridge and Ferrara that have copious amount of olives and are quite large. The larger was planted by a Greek lady who still lives on the property and uses some of the olives. She let us pick some and we're pickling them. This really shouldn't be possible given the average low temperatures in our area (mid county). Are you interested in the possibility of a cold hardy olive tree?
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
Although we don't think anyone in Extension at UMD is researching hardy olives, we can inquire once we determine what kind of tree it is. Are you able to share photos of the fruit, foliage, and overall tree, please? As you noted, we find it unlikely olive trees have survived multiple winters in central Maryland, but would need to see the plants to try to verify their ID.
Miri
Miri
One of our Extension specialists who grows his own fruit is curious about the trees, but would need to verify what kind of olive it is. (We assume they are grown in the ground and not in containers that are moved into a sheltered location for winter?) If you are unable to share photos for tree ID, are you able to share the address of the person growing them, if she is open to a visit so he can look at the trees? (You or we can change your question settings to private in that case to keep the address confidential.)
Miri
Miri
Hi Miri,
I've done more research and this is not a true olive. It has some of the characteristics of the Russian olive and its missing some but there's enough there to be pretty sure that its some sort of Russian olive - Elaeagnus angustifolia apparently the only food use is for Afghan Noruz celebrations but there are a wealth of medicinal qualities.
David
I would think that this may be a Russian Olive, but there are three things that are against that identification. There do not appear to be thorns on the branches. There do not appear to be scales on the fruits. The seeds are very narrow and not large like the description. The fruits otherwise look right and they are sweet. In terms of look-a-likes the fruits are all wrong for Autumn olive and it is clearly a tree and not a shrub. Buffalo berries are even more shrublike than the Autumn olives. So I'm not sure what I have unless it's a cultivar of Russian olive.
David
The photos are from a few years. Sorry I don't have a good straight shot of the tree as a whole. Each fruit has an thin elongated pit. The Greek lady who planted the tree says she uses them and we've brined a good amount ourselves that she was kind enough to let us take.
The photos are from a few years. Sorry I don't have a good straight shot of the tree as a whole. Each fruit has an thin elongated pit. The Greek lady who planted the tree says she uses them and we've brined a good amount ourselves that she was kind enough to let us take.
Hello David,
Our apologies for the slow reply...a system glitch in Ask Extension caused us to receive client replies late.
Thank you for the updates and photos. You are correct that this is not an olive. This is a Jujube (botanical name Ziziphus jujuba), also called Chinese Date (though not related to Date Palm). While not commonly grown compared to other fruits like apple, pear, etc., they are not rare in our region and are reliably hardy here; some nurseries do stock them among their fruit tree selection. We don't have cultivation information for jujube among our web resources at present (other Extension programs may), but they appear to be easy to grow here (few pest and disease problems) and may even be a nuisance if removed due to the tree's eagerness to sucker from the roots when cut down. Although they may be weedy trees in that aspect, we don't see any indication they are behaving invasively in our area.
Miri
Our apologies for the slow reply...a system glitch in Ask Extension caused us to receive client replies late.
Thank you for the updates and photos. You are correct that this is not an olive. This is a Jujube (botanical name Ziziphus jujuba), also called Chinese Date (though not related to Date Palm). While not commonly grown compared to other fruits like apple, pear, etc., they are not rare in our region and are reliably hardy here; some nurseries do stock them among their fruit tree selection. We don't have cultivation information for jujube among our web resources at present (other Extension programs may), but they appear to be easy to grow here (few pest and disease problems) and may even be a nuisance if removed due to the tree's eagerness to sucker from the roots when cut down. Although they may be weedy trees in that aspect, we don't see any indication they are behaving invasively in our area.
Miri
