Coffea arabica - Coffee Tree

Haven't heard of that tree before.

Pip_c:

This is the tree which produces the coffee of commerce. This tree has many coffee cherries still on it also.

OOOH I might see if I can get one here....Gardenia is my favorite smell!!! I have three of them. Had four but it was really old (16years old) and I made a boo boo and let it go rather than plant it in the earth. That must smell gorgeous, gardenia and jasmin. And coffee, yum yum.

Alexandramou:

Gardenia and Coffea are in the same family (Rubiaceae).

Gardenia is one of my favorite fragrances also...it reminds of Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area where I had large shrubs which bloomed prolifically.

My coffee tree is very productive...it has hundreds of coffee cherries on it...and I usually just let them fall or give them away. I don't drink coffee...however, I do eat the coffee cherries which are sweet.

How large were your gardenias?? One of mine is getting ready to bloom again. Will post picture soon. I met a lady in NY years ago who had gardenias about 10 feet tall. I was amazed, never seen any that tall.

Alexandramou:

My Gardenia jasminoides 'Mystery' were 5 feet/ 1.5 meters tall...however, I used to see very large shrubs from 6 - 12 feet / 2 - 4 meters tall and almost as wide in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii.

Here in San Diego Gardenia thunbergia - African Gardenia is much more widely grown and grows to be a tree to 20 feet/ 6.1 meters tall and at least 12 feet/ 4 meters wide. It has extremely fragrant large flowers also.

Right. Buying one this week and putting it in my back garden. I need the others on my balcony, love their fragrance.

Alexandramou:

Great! Gardenia shrubs plants absolutely love acidic soil.