our olive trees have arrived!

Yesterday we finally received delivery (and plantation) of our two ten-year old Verdale olive trees, for the garden at La Tour des Anges

www.maisonsprovencales.fr

There was a lot of digging and pulling out of huge stones left behind from the house that used to stand where the garden is now.

The trees have had to undergo some drastic pruning for the transplantation, so it'll be a while before we can see them in all their glory...

Verdale is the classic local variety, which grows all around the Mont Ventoux and is primarily for pressing into oil, but you can eat them too. There used to be a huge local production of olive oil until the 1950s when an incredible freeze killed most of the trees and the area was replanted solely with vines (which go into deeper sleep in the winter and can withstand temperatures below -30˚C), which in turn sparked the rise of the Côtes du Rhône appellation.

Here they are planted out - I can't wait to be sitting down there with the Legs of Lamb and a nice chilled bottle of rosé this summer!