Coffee as a hedge

[Kelena]

My mom got be addicted to coffee in my early teens. I swoon at the smell. But then, I'm prone to swooning and even fainting if the conditions are right. I'm a hothouse flower. Anyway, a few months ago (June --it seems so long ago!) I pissed off a whole bunch of people by removing some vegetation along the property line. I left the flowers, but removed what I was told were banyan trees. I've seen the banyan trees on the drive of that name and I wasn't about to have any monsters like that on my place. Plus I really want my property to produce, and not just sit there and look pretty like so many of my old boyfriends. The hibiscus and other flowers have filled in pretty well, but there is one really big gap (and a few smaller gaps about 4 feet wide here and there). The patio of the house is very private, thanks to landscaping....except for that gap. So you can no longer pull a Kehena and stand on your hands and wag your junk in the backyard, if you ever wanted to do that. I would like to close off that gap (the one in the landscaping) if I can.

I was thinking about coffee, as I often do. So this is a strip that runs along the driveway all the way to the back. You have already helped me with a portion of it. The sun (also) rises over the ocean to the left of the house (bluff is 400 feet away), so I guess this strip runs from SE to NW. It gets sun pretty much all day I think.

So, I was thinking of putting coffee bushes in these gaps. They would need to rise about 4-6 feet so that my guests can do upside down jumping jacks on their hands. Naked. Or perhaps just sit at the table arms akimbo like me, fully clothed, slowly stirring a passionfruit margarita while Li Hing Mui finds its way to my heart, staining it forever.

Would coffee work here?

[mella l]

Glen,

I think coffee bushes grow into coffee trees! Big! It seems to me you are talking about a 4 foot wide strip. An avocado is a beautiful thing and can be kept dwarfed, but it takes constant maintenance to keep it sized properly as they grow so fast. Not sure of the marine influence on avacado either. What about a small arbor or trellis like screen with lilikoi, the blooms are fabulous purple on green vegetation and the fruit a lovely yellow and very prolific (see Carrie). Ira Ono in Volcano has some lovely bamboo, clumping type that moves so beautifully in the breeze, mesmerizing hypnotic and would make a non producing screen for privacy. Wonder where all the gardeners are? Out by the pool sipping lilikoi margaritas, lounging in diaphaneous lounging robes with contrasting shantung silk collars to match their cocktails of choice?

mella l

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and wrong....because sometime in your life you will have been all of these."

[Kelena]

Aloha Mella,

Not sure where all the gardeners are these days. Maybe they think this should be in the "coffee" forum.....or maybe the Hawaiian coffee forum...or perhaps the Native Hawaiian coffee forum. I've though of bamboo. I really like the idea of having some bamboo somewhere, as I am trying to "asianize" the house and grounds a little bit. Going for zen. But for this one bare patch, I am not sure it would fit in with the rest of the plants, which are mostly green things of a certain height (actually about 8 feet now that I think of it). I could just put some Areca palms there. They would be very happy. But I really have this thing about the place becoming more of a hobby farm --or a life-giving retreat if things get so bad here on the mainland that people start eating each other. Have to be prepared! Lilikoi will defintely be part of the mix...eventually. I love that stuff. Nectar of the gods. Have to be careful not to overwhelm my very kind and caring gardner.

So,I don't mind if coffee gets a little high. I guess I didn't realize it was a tree though. I thought it was a bush.

Another thought is that hibiscus-like bush that Jerry mentioned, that you can make tea from. My time was so short on the island last time, I didn't have time to check in with him. Or anybody. I did check in with Pele. I was gratified to see that when I walked up to the Jagger overlook at midnight on a starry night, the plume exploded with a minute-long display of fiery flame that lit the cauldron and noise that sounded like distanct cannons.

Edible hibiscus or coffee.

[Carey]

Glen, we got a purple leaf hibiscus a couple of months ago & it is taking off (but not planted yet..... bad me!) It also makes for a really nice lemony leaf to add to salads & such & the dark maroon leaf is really neat looking... have seen many in HPP, some which have keiki spreading out to public areas!

Coffee trees are usually kept lower, for easier picking & do well to pruning... just have no idea if the adjacent ocean would make a happy coffee - but it wouldn't hurt too much to try... they do like full sun (shade planting is only to double up the crop with a taller overstory tree, but shade cuts down on the amount of cherry

Next visit, why not plant a few things & see what takes & what doesn't (this has been my whole strategy, unfortunately pots do not seem to contain my plants enthusiasm....)
Edit to Add
Coffee in Kona was added as an understory tree t mac nuts... back when mac nuts were more valuable than Kona coffee.... left untended the coffee trees would grow 14 feet or more into the overstory of the mac nuts.... about 30'... neither one is a really tall tree.... but those that were tended were kept in the 5-7 foot max height...
for an interesting look at coffee in Hawaii, the Amy Greenwell historic coffee farm is a fun & educational stop if in Kealakekua area...

[Kapohocat]

I have coffee down here - it has stayed about 4' tall over a year. It didn't do well planted in direct sunlight and had to be moved under a canopy of other much higher foliage and is doing well there.

I cant tell you what variety mine is but it is not growing into a huge tree. My friend's in HA has one that has produced much over 20 years and is about 5-6' high and never got any bigger (no pruning).

(this is completely anecdotal and not scientific by any means! [] )

[Mitzi M]

Heya Glen,

I sit here drinking coffee quite amused at your "pull a Kehena" allusion! I am thinking that if ya want the freedom to do that you might want a fuller hedge. Coffee seems to get kinda scraggly and may not provide a dense enough hedge, plus it does like some shade and protection from wind. Bamboo is awesome if you have the room - but it sounds like you may be looking for something more compact.

Here's a thought: if you can't figure out what you want yet, why not plant cassava (Manihot esculenta). It grows fast, likes sun or light shade, tolerates poor soil, is pretty and edible. (There's even a vairegated form) You eat the roots, which you can harvest from a live plant or pull out the whole plant. They taste a lot like potatoes and are delicious boiled or made into hash browns. They're also less starchy and easier to grow and prepare than kalo. Ms Carey gave me a couple of cuttings a while ago and they grew fast and are lovely and tasty!

Other ideas...You see it eveywhere but you can't really beat podocarpus for a fast hedge. Hibiscus can make an awesome hedge too but takes a bit more time. I really love our native alahe'e (Psydrax odorata) as a hedge. It's related to coffee, has dense glossy green leaves and little white flowers with an incredible fragrance. It may take time to fill in - but perhaps you can plant it parallel to your initial cassava hedge.

Mitzi

[hpp4me]

You could forget about the hedge idea and use a fig leaf. [] How big of a leaf do you require?

[Carey]

Cassava in our yard... like a weed, plants by twigs & seeds... but not a strong plant and breeze, or heavy rains & branches snap (then reroot... I swear over night!) can grow to over 12', bt will more likely break before... Roots are usaable as a potato substitute.. there are so many starch potentials.... & cassavas have that toxic potential (you can get 'sweet' cassava plants that are much less toxic...)

I am trying to grow more plants that offer more than a starch substitute..... with more interesting flavors.... besides we are up to our knees in purple sweet pototes most of the time....who needs cassava when you have PSP's? I am getting into things like moringa & malabar chestnuts that have edible leaves & shoots & such... much better to plant.... and stevia & purple hibiscus & cherry & such for nummy drinks (along with lilikoi - gotta have that.... for the margaritas.... oooohh.... Papaya, lilikoi, orange margaritas are my new speciality.... Who needs coffee when you have margaritas????? esp. really healthy ones!)

Have started to try to tame my beserk yard this summer... & am interplanting a variety of plants.... papaya, chestnuts, hibiscus, miracle berry, pineapple into a grouping with some flora accent pieces... the footprint on this is rather small.... a mixed planting is under a 4' square... just vary the max heights & shade tolerances... & have fun! the worst that can happen is something isn't happy (or is toooo happy...)

[Shekelpal]

How about cacau? A small tree, very bushy with large leaves AND will give you chocolate!! Seems to grow fast after established. Can grow what Mitzi suggested under it.

[Hotzcatz]

Coffee will fill the gap quite nicely and give you some good brew, too. If you want some young seedling coffee trees, come by and get them, there's loads of them sprouting under the coffee trees in the back yard.

If you just let a coffee tree grow, it will get to be a shrubby tree about twelve to twenty feet tall, but they don't grow that fast and you want to keep them low enough to reach the coffee anyway. Ours were whacked down to about a foot and a half tall about seven years ago and they are nice bushy tall shrubs now. As soon as they get as tall as you want them, pinch off the top two leaves at the top of the stem and they will quit growing up and branch out. I will usually thin out all but two or three stems coming up from where they were whacked off at but if you want shrubs you could let them all branch out.