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

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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.

growing olive tree indoors tips
Indoor olive trees bring a graceful and charming look to your living room or office

1. Arbequina Olive Tree

Botanical NameOlea Europaea ‘Arbequina’
Native AreaCatalonia, Spain
Sun ExposureFull-Partial
Growth RateModerate
Harvest TimeOctober-November
Year to BearCan Fruit the 1st Year
PollinationSelf-Fertile
Growers Skill RatingBeginner
Arbequina olive tree variety features

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Indoor olive tree has beautiful silver-green foliage coloring your lounge or reception area

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.

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Arbequina olive trees have fragrant, creamy white color flowers blooming in spring

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!

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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.

grow arbequina olive tree in pot
Learn useful tips on growing Arbequina olive tree

2. Koroneiki Olive Tree

Botanical NameOlea Europaea ‘Koroneiki’
Native AreaSouthern Greece
Sun ExposureFull-Partial
Growth RateModerate
Harvest TimeOctober-November
Year to BearCan Fruit the 1st Year
PollinationSelf-Fertile
Growers Skill RatingBeginner
Koroneiki olive tree variety features

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.

revive olive tree by identifying a problem
Koroneiki olive trees have silver-green leaves and bring small almond shape olives

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. 

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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.

5 best olive trees indoors to grow
You can decorate your house with low maintenance Koroneiki olive trees and create beautiful decor details indoors

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!

Koroneiki olive tree care growing conditions
Check out everything you need to know about the Koroneiki olive tree!

3. Amfissa Olive Tree

Botanical NameOlea europaea ‘Amfissa’
Native AreaCentral Greece
Sun ExposureFull-Partial
Growth RateModerate
Harvest TimeOctober-November
Year to Bear2-4 years
PollinationSelf-Fertile
Growers Skill RatingBeginner
Amfissa olive tree variety features

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.

olive tree for indoors living room
Amfissa olive trees are compact and suitable for smaller places

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.

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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.

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You can bring a charm to your dining table or your office with dwarf olive trees

4. Leccino Olive Tree

Botanical NameOlea europaea ‘Leccino’
Native AreaItaly
Sun ExposureFull
Growth RateModerate
Harvest TimeOctober-November
Year to Bear1-2 years
PollinationCross-Pollination
Growers Skill RatingBeginner
Leccino olive tree variety features

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.

olive tree leaves uses
Leccino olive trees are one of the most versatile olive varieties, highly resistant to pests

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.

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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.

how to grow olive tree indoors
20 tips on growing olive trees indoors

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.

olive tree for home decor
Indoor olive trees are an easy way to color your classic interior and bring more colors

5. Frantoio Olive Tree

Botanical NameOlea europaea ‘Frantoio’
Native AreaTuscan, Italy
Sun ExposureFull
Growth RateModerate
Harvest TimeOctober-November
Year to Bear2-4 years
PollinationSelf-Fertile
Growers Skill RatingBeginner
Frantoio olive tree variety features

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.

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Frantoio olive trees are very popular trees and ones of the most reliable to grow indoors

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.

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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.   

olive tree bonsai
Olive tree bonsai is an art of piece greatly fitting into your décor (image credit Easterleaf)

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.

make olive tree into bonsai
Check out how to make your olive tree into Bonsai!

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Are You Looking to Buy an Olive Tree? 

If you are looking to add more potted trees or other plants to your orchard, or if you like to replace a neglected olive tree, the best places to get them are your local nursery or an online nursery.

One of the most reliable and the world's largest online nurseries is Fast Growing Trees. They deliver fast, neat, and healthy plants backed with a 30-day guarantee.14400 140091914400