"Cat(h)" wrote in message
oups.com...

Sacha wrote:
On 21/7/06 10:19, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 06:59:07 +0100, Sacha wrote:

Maybe the new 'fashion' for olive trees isn't just a passing fad,
after all!
http://www.otterfarm.co.uk/index.htm

Gardeners World is offering free olive trees to all. (plus GBP4.50
p&p)

Some where a southern EU olive farmer gets a subsidy for getting rid
of his olive trees and somebody ships the trees to UK? :-)


One of the garden designers at Hampton Court had used some gorgeous old
olive trees for which he already had customers before he imported them.
Those came from Spain where a brisk trade has developed in shipping
abroad
olive trees that are 'in the way' of the big housing developments going
on
there. I own a plot of land in Crete with about 12 olive trees on it.
I
wonder what it would cost to dig 'em up and ship them to Devon! ;-)
--

A few years back, I visited a fruit and nut (and olive) farm in
Northern California. At the end of their productive life, the farmer
would sell the olive trees - beautiful large 20 + year old multistemmed
specimens - to the landscaping industry. They were uprooted, loaded up
onto low-loaders, and shipped out. At the time (2001), he was getting
around $700 to 800 per tree - God only knows what the landscape
gardeners or other retail customers were paying for them.

Cat(h)

A few more folk have latched onto the lucrative idea of olive trees so the
price has only risen a little in the last few years. Local GC has mature
things in 250L pots at £800.
Horrible gnarled things with a few leaves and the occasional olive.
I suppose they might look nice in a Japanese type theme but I think one
could get a better effect with an old knackered tree trunk.