Does anyone here know much about olive trees? I want to get a couple to for
here in Bendigo - Meditteranean-ish climate, poor clayey soil, full sun -
but I'll be able to give them as much water as they require. I don't want
them for fruit, (I just like the look of the tree) but mainly for screening
out the neighbours.

Pat wrote:
Does anyone here know much about olive trees? I want to get a couple to for
here in Bendigo - Meditteranean-ish climate, poor clayey soil, full sun -
but I'll be able to give them as much water as they require. I don't want
them for fruit, (I just like the look of the tree) but mainly for screening
out the neighbours.

Hi Pat, I am no expert, but we put a line of olives down our
driveway to screen the neighbours and they are doing great.
Variety is "mission", which is the classic olive used mostly
for oil. They were about a metre tall when we put them in, and
three years later they are about 3m tall and filling out nicely.
No crop yet.

Give them plenty of water for the first couple of years and
they should do well. Ours are in sand, but olives are very
hardy and should do fine in clay as long as it drains okay.