Here’s a couple photos that illustrate what’s meant by a spreading form vs. an upright form. The first example is a Frantoio planted in 2012 (it had been started from a cutting in 2010) and the second is an Itrana planted in late 2011 (it was a young tree in a 4×6 pot about 2 feet tall). Note that the extended length of the lateral branches on the Frantoio and their slightly drooping shape. The Itrana’s lateral branches don’t spread out as much but rather trend upwards.

This Frantoio grows down the road from the nursery here on Saturna. About two seasons ago it was overloaded with olives but it was only a couple of years old so it really wasn’t big enough to carry the weight of the fruit. During an early winter wind storm the tree broke off at its base. As you can see in the photo above, the tree is in full recovery mode. The next photo shows a remnant of the original leader.

The website is back up after yet another mysterious outage—it’s under investigation as to why and if I come up with an interesting explanation for outage (i.e. entertaining and completely fictional) I’ll add another post. Meanwhile, I’ll swear off boring technical posts and promise to post something about olives in the coming week.

Still not clear why the website was down for 24 hrs. but it is back online and happy to be so. Just a note that inventory for some varieties and sizes are shifting quickly due to offsite sales so I’ll be readjusting stock availability soon. And remember, if you want trees this spring, please order soon. At the moment we are not planning on ordering new inventory from the US this year unless new orders suddenly outstrips current inventory. So if you’re thinking about planting this year, let me know and we can plan your planting scheme together.

Philip on Quadra sends a few shots of his trees as they looked in December after the first big freeze of this winter. The only damage from that first spate of cold weather was a little bit of leaf tip burn. Starting at the top, the varieties are Frantoio, Leccino and Maurino:

Here’s Environment Canada’s special statement for the arctic outflow that we are starting to experience here in the Southern Gulf Islands. It’s pretty much the same statement they issued for Vancouver and Victoria:

Alerts for: Southern Gulf Islands

Always nice to get noticed:

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/24/at-the-farmgate-saturna-olive-consortium/

Well, the whips were fun while they lasted but that stock is about gone—at least until early summer. Right now there are a few Frantoio multi-trunk whips left and a couple Leccino. As soon as those run out, online sales will stop. I’ll repost when we have more but for the near future email SOC if you are interested in this size and we’ll either put you on a waiting list or fulfill orders off-line if it looks like we have more stock available.

But no chains…instead we’re offering one gallon whips—single trunk and multi-trunk trees measuring 16 to 26 inches  with little or no lateral growth but with a one gallon pot root system—priced at $25. These are young one gallon trees that should start putting out lateral branches this summer or fall. By next season they will be equivalent in size to one gallon trees if planted in optimal conditions or kept in their pots. The whips are limited in quantity and only available in Frantoio, Itrana, Leccino, Maurino and Pendolino varieties. Here’s an example of a one gallon Frantoio whip:

The SOC online store is back up and seems to be working with no glitches. Most of the varieties and sizes we have in stock are listed at the store page but if you don’t see the variety or size you’re looking for send us an email because we may have it or can probably get it. And of course if you’d prefer to discuss tree size and variety selection before buying you’re always welcome to drop us an email—just use the Contact Us form to send us an email (be sure to let us know where you live if you have questions about planting, variety selection or how we’ll get your trees to you after purchasing).