The bush is about head high and growing in the shade of a tree.

The bush is about head high and growing in the shade of a tree.

Loaded with cherries, many of which are ripe for picking here in late July.

It’s loaded with cherries, many of which are ripe for picking now in late July.

Bloom about to open.

New bloom about to open.

For a number of years, I’ve been watching this coffee bush mature in the Trees for Health garden in  San Diego’s Balboa Park. I used to live down the street from it. Lately, it has begun looking healthier than ever, with only a tiny bit of tip burn on a few leaves, innumerable cherries, and an optimistic bloom setting up here in late July 2015.

Even if I wasn’t interested in roasting the beans to make a coffee drink, and even if I didn’t like the taste of the coffee cherries (whose pulp is sweet and very much earns the right to be called a cherry), I’d appreciate the mere beauty of the plant.

Thus far, I’ve unsuccessfully tried to grow a couple coffee bushes in my yard. One mistake I’ve made is placing the plant in too much sun. The plant’s foliage scorched. Another mistake I’ve made is placing the plant in a place where too much cold air collects on winter mornings. The occasional frosts we get are not friendly to coffee bushes.

Seeing the coffee bush at Balboa Park yesterday has renewed my desire to find the right conditions in my yard for a plant of my own, and this time I’m going to try under the banana plants against the house’s south-facing wall.

You might also like to read my post:

Growing coffee plants in Southern California

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