Olive Nursery

read moreOlive's was started in 1942 by my Grandfather, Walter Eric Olive. That was 77 years ago! We've accumulated some experience over the years and hope to share it with you through this website. Some people are considered experts when they've been doing the same thing for over forty years, so if you want to ask me lawn and garden, pond, or any question, just email me (Tommy Olive) at info@olivesnursery.com and I'll get back with my best answer. When you're sick, you want an experienced doctor. When your landscape is ailing, you want the same thing.

read moreIt's Xeriscape, not Zeroscape. It doesn't mean gravel and a few cactus. Somebody went to Phoenix where they have gravel yards and thought they could do the same here. Think about it: you could buy a vacant lot in Pheonix, pay the taxes and never hear from anyone for ten years. Here you would be fined over any 8 month period for not mowing it. We get too much rain! After five years enough dust will blow into the gravel to grow every weed and grass there is. The word was coined by the city of Denver in the sixties and defined as a lifestyle with conservation as a main goal.

read moreWater Gardening usually means ponds, but in West Texas just the sound of water seems to cool us off. If you can't dig a hole maybe you'd like a concrete statuary fountain. We've got a wide selection and can special order from the main manufactuers. Our hardy water lilies will be here in Late April! Tropicals will come mid-June. Tropicals have serrated-edged leaves and should bloom every day into September, maybe October. It's best to repot them into bigger pots and feed them in March or April. We have food tabs or Ken Landon's special fertilizer he uses at the International Water Lily Collection on Park St.

read moreSoil is a mixture of a lot of things, but it boils down to three categories: the physical (sand, clay and silt mixtures), the chemical (what minerals are available like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), and the living organic part (the living organisms in the soil). The life in the soil is critical and most often overlooked. Soil life needs moisture, oxygen, organic matter, and minerals among others. Soil is alive with fungus, bacteria, algae, and others living micro-organisms. Other than rain, our source of moisture is from wells, rivers, and lakes, all of which are high in alkaline salts.

read moreThis is a bio-stimulant that also contains soil penetrants. Olive's OIL does two things: it feeds the organic life in the soil and it helps get water into our soil. Since there is no organic activity without moisture, the combination greatly accelerates the growth of organic life. We need help getting water to penetrate (or percolate) into our hard, tight soil. Also roots and most beneficial organisms need oxygen. As the organic populations grow, they loosen the soil bringing down the life giving oxygen.

read moreThere is annual color and perennial color. Mixing the two is a good plan. Annuals give more consistant color but don't come back. Perennials come back for years but need pruning and thinning to look good. The best way to choose color is to come by and see what we have. We'll talk you through it because we know what sun exposure, etc. is required for each plant. There is also tropical color: hibiscus, bouganvillas, ixora, some jasmine, plectranthus and more. Remember a fifteen dollar bouganvilla costs about as much as two of you going to lunch and lasts ALOT longer!

read moreThis is such a huge subject! You should start with an honest assessment of your lifestyle. Your landscape should only be as big or complicated as you will enjoy maintaining or paying someone else to maintain. Everybody looks bad if you get inspired to install, get worn out putting it all in, and then fail to maintain it. There was a time when rows of sheared shrubs, often two tiers, and alot of grass was the picturesque landscape. Not anymore. Foundation hedges has been replaced with groupings of perennial color (often evergreen), ornamental grasses, and a few specimen shrubs like yaupon, mountain laurel, or crape myrtle.

read moreI'm just like you: I don't want to spend any money I don't need to, and sure don't want to waste any. Water has become a precious commodity in West Texas. Not only is it expensive, we're told we can only use so much. There is a way to get much more out of the water and rain that goes on your landscape. Having drought resistant plants is a good practice. These plants are deep rooted. If you Google grass varieties some will say they have roots as deep as 3 ft. However, the quality of the soil has more to do with the depth of rooting than the plant variety!