Coffeeberry 'Mound San Bruno'

Fri, 12/03/2010 - 10:31am — Kathy Ormiston

Photo Credit:

Kathy Ormiston, PADG

Botanical Name:

Rhamnus californica 'Mound San Bruno'

Pronunciation:

(RAM-nus kal-ih-FOR-nik-uh)

Common Name:

Coffeeberry 'Mound San Bruno'

Plant Type:

Shrub

Mature Size:

5 ft. tall and wide

Water Requirements:

None: avoid summer water

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Full to half sun, shade

Wildlife:

Attracts birds

We planted the California native coffeeberry 'Mound San Bruno' in our native plant bed that receives both sun and shade. The amount of sun the bed gets varies depending on the time of year and time of day. That's a common condition in many gardens and not all shrubs do well in both sun and shade.

Coffeeberry isn't a flashy shrub, but it does add much needed structure to the native plant bed. The berries on the plant are attractive and beneficial for birds and small mammals.

There are many different varieties of coffeeberry. They can be used as an informal hedge or screen or gently pruned to be a bedding or foundation shrub. 'Mound San Bruno' is one of our favorites because of its compact growing habit, which works well in a perennial bed.

We watered our coffeeberry once a week to get it started, but now that it is established, we water it once or twice over the summer to wash the dust off the leaves.