5 Best Olive Trees for Indoors | Olive Tree Varieties to Grow Indoors

Introducing olive trees for indoors is an excellent way to add some color to your home interiors —especially during the darker months. Silver green, joyful, and available in many beautiful varieties, in addition to looking lovely potted in a corner, they can also bear olive fruit that’s perfect for everything from appetizers to cocktails or classic dishes.

While you will need to live in a warm area to grow olive trees outside all year round, potted olive trees can always thrive indoors in cooler climates. There are many varieties of olive trees available. Here I list the 5 best olive trees for indoors that have the best chance of thriving in the right indoor space.

1. Arbequina Olive Tree

Always consider Arbequina olive variety. Arbequina olive tree is one of the most popular trees you can get indoors. Originated from the Catalonia region of Spain, Arbequina is a compact, frost hardy, evergreen tree with a graceful look and delicious olive fruits.

Arbequina olive tree in a pot can add a charm to your home décor on a seasonal basis: it blooms in spring with fragrant creamy white olive tree flowers. Then grows small light green during summer that follows with dark brown color and purple shades when fully ripe. Eventually, these olives can result in fresh fruity flavor homemade olive oil or delicious snack and meal.  

Overall, Arbequina is a brilliant variety for making olive oil at home or curing its olives. These products are delicious!

Arbequina Olive Tree Care Tips

You can grow them indoors effortlessly for many years to come (also, check out the olive tree lifespan). It requires a sunny south-facing window for the olive tree to flourish, ideally at least 4 to 8 hours of sunlight per day. Make sure you water well when you see the soil is dry.  Arbequina olive trees are self-fertile, which means you only need one tree to get fruit. Though, growing another olive tree next by could increase your harvest.

2. Koroneiki Olive Tree

Cultivate a Koroneiki tree with the ability to thrive without much effort. It is a widely spread olive cultivar, though Koroneiki olive trees mostly grow in south Peloponnese and Crete areas. They are super easy to grow and are suitable for indoors.

Koroneiki has a typical upright spreading habit, with leaves somewhat larger than most olive tree varieties and bushy branches. Another great thing about this olive variety, they are drought resistant, so when you forget to give them the water, they will not die.

The Koroneiki tree itself produces small, aromatic, cream-colored flowers and small, almond-shaped with shiny dark-purple skin olives. They taste a bit bitter, so you’ll often find them preserved in olive oil, salty water, or red wine vinegar.

Also, these popular Greek olives are famous all over the world for being one of the best choices when producing olive oil. The delicious olive oil goes well with salads, fish, chicken, pork, roasted vegetables, feta cheese, and any Greek dish. 

Koroneiki Olive Tree Care Tips

Koroneiki is one of the hardiest and long-lived olive trees, easy to care for. Place it in a location that receives full or partial sun – any area that gets 6 hours or more sun per day is optimal. Repot in an organic potting mix or loam-based compost with added sharp sand.

Fertilize each 4 – 6 weeks and water moderately in growth; water sparingly in winter. Let the soil dry between waterings, so if needed, use a water meter to measure moisture in the soil. And add decorative pebbles around the soil to help reduce evaporation.

Koroneiki olive tree is self-fertile, however, using another olive tree for pollination drastically improves fruit yield. Bear in mind that olives bear fruit on the previous year’s growth, so only a light pruning is required!

3. Amfissa Olive Tree

Choose popular Amfissa olive variety. Amfissa olive tree is one most famous Greek olive varieties hailing from Central Greece. They grow in a compact, manageable silhouette and is ideal for tight or narrow spaces. These trees look beautiful when you place them in your home in an attractive container or basket.

Amfissa olive fruits are a brownish-purple color that gives salty, buttery, and mild fruity flavor. Harvest them when the olives are ripe and make your own homemade olive oil or brine olives.

Amfissa Olive Tree Care Tips

Amfissa olive needs a full sun so place it in your brightest room or indoor site. Water Amfissa tree frequently, especially when the warm days come and during growth season. However, water sparingly in winter. Follow the simple watering rule and allow the top inch of soil in the pot or container to try out in between waterings.

It is a self-fertile olive variety, but you can use other trees for pollination in order to increase fruit yield.

4. Leccino Olive Tree

Nurture Leccino variety olive tree. Beautiful and bearing delicious olive fruits, Leccino olive trees are a wonderful choice when it comes to indoor cultivars. They are one of the most versatile olive varieties available, easily thriving in pots or containers, highly resistant to pests and diseases.

Leccino olive trees will never let you down in terms of fruiting, they have a heavy harvest and delicious fruity olives. And since it’s reasonably drought tolerant, missed waterings are no problem. Leccino tree isn’t fussy and keeps on growing regardless of neglect.

Leccino Olive Tree Care Tips

Hardier than most cultivars, Leccino olive trees are easy to grow indoors. Place your Leccino olive tree in a spot that gets full sun. These trees require plenty of sun to thrive and do best in positions where they receive 10 to 12 hours of sun a day. They can be grown in partial shade with 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day, but in these conditions, they may struggle to bear olive fruit, and growth will be slower.

It will adapt to a wide range of soil types as long as there is proper drainage. You can grow it in organic commercial soil or loam-based compost with added sharp sand.

To make Leccino flower and fruit you must cross-pollinate with another olive variety, most effective pollinator is the Arbequina olive tree. So it is recommended to have at least 2 olive trees indoors unless you see a fruitless version.

5. Frantoio Olive Tree

Choose a widely popular Frantoio olive tree variety. Frantoio olive tree is a very hardy, long-lived, slow-growing evergreen tree. This tree has beautiful grey-green foliage and can decorate your dining table, reception area, office, or living area and refresh the environment by adding this attractive touch of greenery.

Frantoio olive trees produce large numbers of creamy white flowers every spring that turn into stunningly dark, oval-shaped olives. Picking this variety means the reward of constant productivity and table olives, oil, and more home-grown, all without hassle.

Frantoio Olive Tree Care Tips

Frantoio olive trees have fewer pest problems than other fruit cultivars, so it’s easy to ensure they thrive, indoors or out. Frantoio tree requires full sun to give its best performance, though it will tolerate a partially shaded position. 

Locate them into full sun, feed monthly and water moderately in growth. Water sparingly in winter and mist the olive leaves frequently during the winter to keep the foliage fresh.

These trees do best with a pollinator or partner tree for more fruit, they are self-compatible for producing.

Bonus Hint on Best Olive Trees for Indoors: Bonsai!

You can also grow olive trees in a pot or container and shape them into a Bonsai. There are so many ideas of beautifully shaped and gracefully structured bonsai olive trees around that may give you some inspiration to create your own version.  Pick a beautiful pot to place your beautiful bonsai olive tree and decorate your living room, office, or dining table.   

For bonsai design you can use almost every olive variety, you just need to decide if you want a fruiting version or fruitless. In the case of fruitless, get a cross-pollinating olive variety and keep it far away from other olive trees in order not to pollinate and grow fruits.

Read Next

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• How to Plant Olive Trees in Container?
• How to Care for Olive Tree in Pots?

Vangelis Kleft

Hi, I’m Vangelis Kleftogiannis, the founder of Oliviada and an established olive oil expert from Kalamata, Greece. My expertise isn’t just in producing quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but also in the cultivation and care of olive trees themselves. I am deeply committed to sharing my knowledge and know-how, helping others understand the intricacies of olive tree growing and the creation of quality olive oil.

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