How to Plant a Tea Olive

Tea olive plants are also known as Osmanthus and feature dark green leaves and small fragrant blossoms which are usually white in color. The plant grows best in the Southern United States in hardiness zones 8 through 11. These shrubs can be used as hedges as they grow up to 30 feet tall and 30 feet wide and can be pruned as short as 4 feet tall when fully mature.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel

Instructions

1. Select an area with full or partial sun to plant the tea olive. Make sure that there is plenty of open space around the planting site as tea olive plants can grow to be quite large.

2. Dig a hole deep enough to insert the plant into the hole so that it is planted at the same depth it was in the container you purchased it in. If the plant was not purchased in a container, plant it deep enough to cover the top of the root ball.

3. Remove any synthetic wrapping from around the root ball of the plant, being careful not to damage the roots.

4. Place the tea olive plant into the hole, if the root ball is wrapped in burlap, gently peel the burlap open after you place the plant into the hole. Push the soil back into the hole around the base of the plant.

5. Push soil up around the perimeter of the filled in hole to form a 2 inch high border around the plant.

6. Water the tea olive plant thoroughly and allow the small basin you created to fill up with water.

References

• Martha Stewart: Fragrant Tea Olive

Resources

• Arbor Day: Hardiness Zones