A couple YEARS ago we did a post--olive trees are the new fiddle leaf. It was shortly after we got this faux one for the living room in our last house. We did a small roundup of favorite faux options but to be honest, at the time, hardly anyone was selling them. Now, fast forward a couple years and they are a lot more mainstream and there are some really great faux and real options out there! Recently we purchased two more, 1 real and another faux so I thought I owed you an update.
In April, I purchased a real olive tree online from here. Our local nurseries don't sell them but we really wanted to give it a go. I chose the 5-6' option and when it arrived it was over 6' and sparse but CUTE! I planted it, fertilized it and put it in a sunny corner in the living room. We got a TON of advice about it over the weeks since, but the most helpful came from a local arborist saying that while Idaho is warm and sunny (and dry!) over the next few months, it would be best to put it outside to soak in all the rays it can and then pull it back in when it starts cooling off again.
Our bedroom balcony is the sunniest (and most protected from foot traffic), so we set Olive (that's what we named her) out there for now. We're all crossing our fingers we don't kill this one.
We then purchased this faux one we purchased from Etsy got planted in its place and is a great scale for our living room with soaring ceilings.
Sources: Olive Tree, Pot, Sofa, Navy Sofa, Ottoman, Striped Jute Rug, Persian Rug, Leather Chairs, Striped Pillows, Floor Lamp, Throw Blanket, Navy Plaid Pillow, Wall Color: Alabaster by Sherwin Williams, Trim Color: Accessible Beige by Sherwin Williams, Windows: Pella, Floor: Ingrid by Stuga Studio
It's about 8' tall but its in a planter with some dirt and rocks which brings it up about 7-8" and I love the knobby trunk! It looks SO realistic. I had to laugh because our 6 year old said earlier this week "wow! our olive tree grew up so good!" If only they grew that fast! Haha. Here's how it looks from the dining room. I'd still love to add some art to that wall that's behind it so it's kind of a guarantee at this point (under a year in this house) that things will still shift a bit.
Sources: Olive Tree, Side Table (vintage), Faux Stems, Vase (similar), Limestone Knot, Sconce, Light Tile, Dark Tile
This one below, that lived in our living room in our last house, is smaller and now in our bedroom corner! I actually think this would be the perfect spot for our live one in the colder months because the sun pours through these doors all day. I've moved this little guy all around and it looks good in EVERY room I put it in.
Sources: Olive Tree, Basket, Canopy Bed, Nightstands (similar), Lamp, Duvet, Wall Sconce, DIY Over-Grouted Fireplace, Walls: Alabaster by Sherwin Williams, Trim: Lamp Room Gray by Farrow & Ball, Floors: Stuga Studio Ingrid, Doors by Pella
And since there are so many more on the market now--here's another roundup of all the best, including two live ones if you want to go that route!
#6 is our real one, Olive. #14 is in our master bedroom and #15 is in our living room!
1. Faux Olive Tree | 19.5" | $68
2. Live Arbequina Olive Tree | 30-40" | $68
3. Artificial Olive Tree in Pot | 5' | $86
4. Olive Plant in Pot | 42" | $98
5. Artificial Olive Tree | 49" | $119
6. Live Arbequina Olive Tree | 6-7' | $139
7. Faux Potted Olive Tree | 30" | $144
8. Olive Artificial Tree | 7.5' | $153
9. Artificial Silk Tree Olive Plant | 6' | $165
10. Potted Olive Tree | 70" | $175
11. Olive Tree | 5' | $176
12. Faux Green Olive Tree | 6' | $250
13. Faux Potted Olive Tree | 71" | $299
14. Faux Olive Tree | 84" | $399
15. Large Artificial Olive Tree | 94" | $637
16. Mediterranean Faux Olive Tree | 96" | $1,250
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Oh my gosh I was so entertained with the comments of fake vs real haha! Hey do whatever makes you happy & be happy for other people because if someone has a fake plant next door to you, I’m sure it doesn’t affect your life at all. Do you guuurrl!
I bought the faux tree from crate and barrel based on your recommendation. What size circumference and height for a pot do you recommend? Trying not to bring too many home that I’ll need to end up returning! Thanks for your great feed!
The link for your olive tree, "Olive", goes to a different tree than the Koroneiki Greek Olive tree link you had originally linked- is this one not the Koroneiki?
#1 is terrible in real life. Just want to warn anyone if they are considering it. The ones at Target were much more realistic and at a better price point.
Love both of these! Wondering if you could share the size of the planter you used for the real olive tree? I'm thinking of ordering one and want to make sure I have a pot to plant it in!
Love this, now I'm seriously considering adding a big one to my living room! Also Julia can you link your jute rug again? It says your link is bad. Who makes your jute rug? So pretty!
how do you have the pot drained? do you have a clear saucer or is there another pot in the pot? this is the problem i have currently, i killed a nice tree by over watering it and have been scared to try again.
Your faux tree looks beautiful! Perfect for that space.
What do you put in the pot with the faux tree to fill it in?
rocks and dirt!
Love these! It looks so great next to your big window
Team Both! I've been eyeing All That's Pretty/Laura Ann's new venture, Little Buds, which sells faux plants and flowers. Faux has come such a long way even just in the last 5 years! In my home, I have about 30 plants, and I keep a garden and an herb wall outside during summers. I love having greenery around, and a lot of plants are easy enough to keep and propogate (making it cheaper!). But! Some corners of the home don't get enough light, or are near an HVAC vent, or what.ev.er. and it is wonderful to have options to keep those corners feeling alive!
I am digging these faux olive trees - we have only 8' ceilings, so I've been hesitant to buy an actual olive tree because I know at some point, if I do my job right, it will outgrow our house and I can't move it outside or it will die in our climate.
I love olive trees too! Just ordered a faux one for our bedroom and can't wait for it to arrive! Just wondered if they fade in the sun? Do you spray yours with uv protector?
We haven't had any fading whatsoever, but I was just reminded that we have new windows that block UV which could also be a problem for live plants.
Real vs faux plants - I love them both! And I tend to think of them in different ways. With my live plants, I love to see them grow and that often means putting them where they will thrive/get the best light - which isn't necessarily where they will look best! Treating real plants as decor can sometimes lead to disappointment, especially if that leads you to putting the wrong plant in the wrong spot. On the other hand, I can put faux plants wherever I want! I love to be able to spruce up a dark corner or a side table that's far, far away from a window.
Thanks for the round up, Julia! I've been looking for a faux tree to bring some life to a dark corner of my bedroom that would never be able to support a real tree!
love the look of indoor plants. but love my cats more! I'd have to do fake plants or my furry friends eat them. I'll settle for a beautiful picture of an olive tree.
I'm with you, Heather!! I foster kittens, and have to be so careful what I expose them to!
If your new windows and doors have a low-e coating your live plants may not be getting enough UV rays
Oh interesting!!!
Be sure you don't just put the real olive tree out in the sun all at once - It will likely fry - you should put it out for 10-15 min or so and then increase the amount each day! Most plants need some love when going from inside outside into the real sun...
I’m firmly in the camp that real is always better. Real has so much character and houseplants grow “into” their space in a way that is totally unique to them! I definitely agree with putting your olive outdoors to get as much sun as possible, but make sure your pot has actual drainage holes or else when it rains it will get way too soaked and will stay wet for too long. That’s a great way to rot a plant. Btw, adding rocks to the bottom of a pot does not make up for a lack of drainage hole. It actually makes the problem worse by raising the water line.
We moved our plant outdoors and put it in a pot with a draining hole! We're on our way!
Happy to hear it! She’ll be big and beautiful in no time.
Lol yeah Julia, don't you know that there are these things called ~real plants~ that exist?? :-P
But seriously though, your living room is looking STUNNING. It looks like such a soothing place to spend time.
The new one from Etsy is gorgeous! The trunk is my favorite part. I have a pretty green thumb (for example, I have two fiddle leaf figs that I have to keep topping back otherwise they will grow to the ceiling), I do a lot of gardening outside and have other indoor plants that are flourishing as well but I cannot keep an olive tree happy. I had one for a few years and it flourished until one day it didn't, it just dropped all of it's leaves and died (I even held onto it for a while in it's leafless state hoping it was just acting like a deciduous tree and would put new leaves back on, lol). I tried another olive and it hated me from the start so I think I'm done investing in olive trees. So, I hope you have better luck than I did with your Olive than I did with mine but if you suffer the same luck as me, you're in good company. Esty Olive is a fabulous backup plan.
I live in LA where olive plants are supposed to thrive and I still can't keep them alive. I've since learned they don't like pots for too long and they don't like being indoors. When I tried having one outside it got fried on an unusually hot day and never got it's leaves back. I'm super interested to see if Julia can keep hers alive in Idaho!
I don't' really see how fake trees are any better than fake flowers. I have plants in my home to watch them grow, to clean the air, and to tend to. You don't get any of that from plastic.
You didn't mention anything about how you like the way they look.
I guess liking the way they look was implied in my comment, I'm not sure why I would grow a plant that I didn't like the look of.
A fake plant will always be a fake plant and will look fake, and if a space can't support a plant, it will look obviously out of place.
I must have missed the part of this post where Julia suggested that faux plants are better than real. I didn't notice her make any value statement except that she loves the look of olive trees and the feeling they bring to her home. *sigh*
I think CLJ strikes a good balance. Sure, some living things are great for air purification, but faux plants can be nice for areas that need some greenery but just don't support a living thing. Plants can be fussy about light, temperature, and drafts. Plastic doesn't care. It just looks good.
I had real plants and they all died in the winter because I don’t heat my flat when I’m not home. Most fashionable plants these days are better for warmer climates. I’ve got a mix of fake and real. Also my friends a gardener and says plants aren’t meant to be inside. If you can keep them alive for more then three years then you are doing well.
My mother has plants she inherited from my grandmother that are about 50 years old going strong inside.
How fortunate we all are to get to enjoy either or both faux or real plants in whatever way we wish! I have some of both: some long lived, some brand new. Some thrive and some struggle. And I get enjoyment out of them all in different ways. Your mother is fortunate to have inherited beautiful plants that continue to thrive. Perhaps one day you'll inherit them as well, and care for them with the same vigor with which you have discouraged faux plants here.
Julia & Chris- your olive trees and your home are lovely.
As a crazy plant lady I get this. It’s almost a feeling of life hugging you when you’re surrounded by real plants. I’ll also point out tiny new growth to anyone that will listen and go on and on about soil clay content.