If you have searched for a Pottery Barn olive tree dupe, you have probably already noticed the strange thing about that search: the top result is Pottery Barn's own olive tree page, and Google itself flags it with "Missing: dupe". The page that ranks first does not answer the question. This article does.
It stays on Pottery Barn throughout: what their $249 to $549 tier buys, what it leaves out, and the checks to run on their page before you order. For the whole market ladder, from $50 Amazon bestsellers up to RH's four-figure regular price, read why faux trees cost $80 or $900; Pottery Barn sits squarely in the middle of it.
What does the Pottery Barn olive tree actually cost, and what is it made of?
Pottery Barn's faux olive trees run $249 to $549 across sizes from 6 ft to 9 ft, and their own product page states the tree is "Made of polyester, plastic, and Styrofoam". The same page says it "Includes Black plastic vessel" and, in the fine print under the photography, "Shown in Concrete Fluted Planter (sold separately)".
That last detail is worth pausing on, and not for the reason you might expect. Pottery Barn is being straight with the customer there. The handsome concrete planter in the photo is not included, they say so plainly, and a lot of retailers in this category do not. The lesson is not that Pottery Barn is hiding something. The lesson is that the styled photograph is doing work that the product is not, and once you know to look for that line you will start finding it everywhere.
What does the $249 to $549 tier buy, and what does it leave out?
Within Pottery Barn's range, the spread from $249 to $549 tracks size: 6 ft at the bottom, 9 ft at the top. The published materials line stays identical across all of it, so the extra three hundred dollars is buying height and canopy, not a change in what the leaves are made of.
What the tier reliably buys you is catalogue styling and, to Pottery Barn's credit, an honest packing list. What it leaves out is the planter that makes the photograph work, and at this tier that omission matters because the most direct like-for-like includes one. Crate and Barrel's 5 ft faux olive lists at $249 with a cement planter in the box, wire-framed polyester and plastic foliage with 8% recycled content, a made-in-Thailand label, and 474 customer reviews behind it. Side by side:
| Pottery Barn faux olive | Crate and Barrel faux olive | |
|---|---|---|
| Price as listed | $249 to $549 | $249 |
| Sizes | 6 ft to 9 ft | 5 ft |
| Published materials | Polyester, plastic and Styrofoam | Polyester, plastic, foam and wire; 8% recycled |
| What ships in the box | Black plastic vessel; concrete planter sold separately | Cement planter included |
| Review depth | - | 474 reviews |
If you want the entry price and the pot, Crate and Barrel wins on paper. If you want 8 or 9 feet of height from a catalogue brand, Pottery Barn is the one of the two that sells it. Either way, the decision is about the box contents and the size chart, not the logo.
What should you check on Pottery Barn's page before ordering?
- The vessel lines. Reread the two sentences about the vessel and the planter before you budget, because the pot in the photograph is a separate line on the bill.
- Trunk construction. The materials list names polyester, plastic and Styrofoam, with no wood or fibreglass trunk claim, so zoom the photography and judge the trunk with your own eyes.
- Canopy width. Height is published at 6 ft to 9 ft; spread usually is not. A 6 ft tree with a 20-inch spread looks like a stick, and width is what fills a corner.
- Leaf density. Olive leaves are small, so a thin canopy is instantly obvious. Count the leaf clusters in the photo rather than trusting the height on the label.
Who actually makes trees at this tier?
Often not the brand on the receipt. A large share of this category is built on a common manufacturing base, and occasionally a customer catches it in the act. A Reddit thread in r/interiordecorating that ranks on this very query contains a customer reporting exactly that: "I ordered the regular 6.5 ft olive tree from pottery barn and they dropshipped the olive tree from nearly natural." One shopper's parcel is not a verdict on a whole supply chain, but it is a useful corrective to the idea that a catalogue price implies a catalogue factory.
Are fake olive trees still in style?
Yes, and the reason is structural rather than fashionable. The olive tree became a fixture of interior photography because its silver-green leaf is neutral, its branching is open enough to sit in front of a window without blocking light, and its silhouette suits Mediterranean, modern-organic and Japandi rooms equally. None of those qualities is going out of date.
Faux olives also solve a real problem: a live olive tree indoors will drop leaves within a season in most Canadian homes, because it wants far more direct light and far drier air than a heated interior provides. That is why the artificial version dominates in the first place.
What is the most popular fake tree?
By sheer volume it is the olive tree, followed by the fiddle leaf fig. Olive overtook fiddle leaf because the fiddle's large glossy leaf is very hard to fake convincingly, while olive's small matte irregular leaf is forgiving. If you want the highest chance of a faux tree passing at a glance, olive is genuinely the easiest category to buy into. If you want the fiddle shape anyway, buy it on leaf quality and stability: our 4 to 7 ft fiddle leaf fig with a weighted base runs $219 to $399 CAD.
So what should you actually buy?
Decide on canopy width and trunk type first, then look at price. A dense-canopy tree on a plastic trunk reads well from across a room at any tier. If people will stand next to the tree, the trunk is where the money should go: a 5.25 to 7 ft olive on a genuine wood trunk is $249 to $419 CAD, which puts a real-timber build at Pottery Barn's plastic-trunk entry price. If the designer review culture has made you anxious about fullness, choose a listing that publishes its numbers: our silk-foliage olive, 5.25 to 8 ft, publishes how many leaves and how many fruit each size carries, at $249 to $449 CAD.
About us, in the same spirit of reading the fine print: our artificial olive trees begin around $164 CAD for a white-potted 8-footer, and climb well past $1,000 for fibreglass and real-wood builds specified for lobbies and commercial fit-outs, so we are not a cheaper Pottery Barn across the board. Our foliage is plastic like everyone's, and a good share of ours come in a plain nursery pot, the exact caveat this article just flagged on someone else's page. The full spread is in artificial olive trees Canada and, above 7 ft, in large artificial trees.
One tier up from Pottery Barn sit McGee & Co at $718 and $888, where the brand's own most-upvoted reviewer points buyers back down the ladder. That story deserves its own page and has one: McGee & Co dupes, an honest look at what you're paying for.
The honest close on the Pottery Barn question: their $249 to $549 buys a styled, honestly described, mid-tier tree with the good planter sold separately. Whether that is the right buy depends on the four checks above, not on the name over the door.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Pottery Barn olive tree come with the planter in the photo?
No. The product page states the tree includes a black plastic vessel, and the fine print notes it is shown in a concrete fluted planter that is sold separately. Pottery Barn discloses this plainly, which many retailers do not, but you should budget for a decorative planter as a separate purchase if you want the look in the photograph.
Is the Pottery Barn olive tree good quality for the price?
It is a mid-tier tree, honestly described. The published materials are polyester, plastic and Styrofoam, the same family used across the market, with no wood or fibreglass trunk claim. The $249 to $549 spread buys height, from 6 ft to 9 ft. Judge it on canopy density and width in the photographs, because those are what change how it reads in a room.
Where does Pottery Barn source its faux olive trees?
Pottery Barn does not publish this, and much of the faux tree category shares a manufacturing base. One Reddit customer in r/interiordecorating reported ordering the 6.5 ft olive and receiving it dropshipped from Nearly Natural, a known faux-plant manufacturer. A single parcel proves nothing about the whole range, but it explains why trees at very different prices can photograph almost identically.
What is the closest like-for-like alternative to the Pottery Barn olive tree?
At the same $249 entry price, Crate and Barrel's 5 ft faux olive is the most direct comparison, and it includes a cement planter and carries 474 reviews. In Canadian dollars, our silk-foliage olive runs $249 to $449 CAD across 5.25 to 8 ft with published leaf and fruit counts, and a natural-wood-trunk version runs $249 to $419 CAD.
How do I judge a faux olive tree from listing photos alone?
Zoom the trunk first, since an unclaimed trunk material usually means moulded plastic. Then count leaf clusters rather than reading the height, look for a published canopy width, and find the line that says what actually ships in the box. Those four observations predict how the tree will look in your room far better than the price does.
Competitor prices are USD list prices as published when checked in August 2026. Eververda prices are CAD and current as of 28 August 2026.