Coffee berry plant is taking over tiny yard

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Coffee berry plant is taking over tiny yard

We live on Bernal Hill, in San Francisco, where we planted a coffee berry some years ago. I knew the day would come when it would be a big plant, like the one we had admired at the Point Reyes visitor center.

That day has arrived and it is taking over our tiny yard. We need to prune it, but I’m a bit in a quandary about the best approach. I’ve been pruning roses for years, so I have an idea about shaping, etc., but would really appreciate some tips.

It also seems to have developed some sort of disease. At first I thought it was white paint splashed by a neighbor cleaning brushes, but it is increasingly covering the leaves. Could it be a powdery mildew like one sees on roses? What would be the best way to identify and treat it? Many thanks for your help!

California coffee berry (Rhamnus californica), which isn’t used for making coffee, grows to 10 feet tall and wide. Even if you had tried to keep it in check by pruning every year, as you do your roses, it would have been difficult to limit its size. It is best pruned in summer, when it’s most dormant and when dry weather reduces the chance of diseases entering pruning cuts.

One approach is moderate pruning. Cut any dead branches to the place they join another limb. Then start at the end of any extra-long branches, trace them back to where they join another limb, and remove them there. If branches are thick and tangled, remove some less vigorous (less leafy) branches in the same way.

A more drastic approach, called coppicing, is to cut all of the stems at 6 inches from the ground, making cuts at an angle, so water will run off of the cut ends. Kathy Crane, owner of Yerba Buena native plant nursery in Woodside (yerbabuenanursery.com, (650) 851-1668), told me the chance of coffee berry regrowth versus death is about fifty-fifty; however the one they coppiced in their demonstration garden regrew into a beautiful plant.

When you are considering any largish plant for a small garden, it’s always worthwhile to research if smaller varieties exist before you buy. If you lose this one and still like the species, consider the following varieties: ‘Eve Case’ (pictured) reaches 8 by 8 feet. ‘Mound San Bruno’ grows to only 6 by 6 feet, and Crane says it keeps a nice dense form at maturity. ‘Ed Holme’ could fit in most gardens, since it’s only 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide.

Steve Dreistadt, author of “Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs” (UC ANR Publication 3359), says that a powdery mildew disease has indeed been recorded on coffee berry. It’s Microsphaera penicillata, a different species from the ones that affect roses. Dreistadt says that gardeners often mistake white paint, bird or insect droppings for powdery mildew.

Because your white coating is spreading, I imagine it is not paint. But, to be sure which disease you have, you can take infected leaves (in a sealed bag) to a free UC-sponsored plant clinic. There is one from 9 a.m. to noon the first Saturday of each month at the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley, 200 Centennial Drive. Another meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. first Sundays from January through October at the San Mateo Arboretum, 101 Ninth Ave.

Reduce susceptibility to disease by making sure your coffee berry gets no summer irrigation after the first year. If it is powdery mildew, spraying with summer oil or neem oil could help reduce its spread.

Q: I’d like to plant an attractive, largish, native bush that will eventually cover a west-facing fence and attract birds, especially waxwings and mockingbirds, to eat its berries. The plot is about 12 feet long, 2 feet wide. I hope you can give me some suggestions.

A: Because your bed is so narrow, you will have to espalier a shrub to fit, but some native shrubs with berries birds enjoy can be pruned this way. Yellow- or pink-flowered native currants (Ribes aureum gracillimum or R. sanguineum glutinosum) are good choices since they attract waxwings and mockingbirds. They lose their leaves in late summer to fall, then have late winter blossoms (attractive to hummingbirds) and summer berries.

Or consider an evergreen. Redberry (Rhamnus crocea) is closely related to coffee berry (see above), but easier to keep to a narrow form. Where summers are warm enough, toyon (Hetreromeles arbutifolia) will form red winter berries.

Birds also like California grape (Vitis californica), a vine that bears fruit in warm summers. Ask at a full-service nursery for help with final choices for your microclimate and advice on espaliering the shrubs.

Pam Peirce is the author of “Golden Gate Gardening” and “Wildly Successful Plants: Northern California.” Read her blog at goldengategarden.typepad.com. [email protected]

This article appeared on page M – 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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