Sunday's Food Tip: Share Your Morning Coffee With Your Plants

Okay, so this isn’t really a food tip – unless you’re a plant. But it seems to work so well, I’d like to share it.



Do you have trouble getting your hibiscus plants, geraniums, and African violets to flower continuously?

Maybe they just need a good cup of coffee.

My husband and I were sitting out on our deck the other morning enjoying a leisurely breakfast of apple-cinnamon scones and coffee. When I got up to go back into the house, I poured what was left in my cup into one of the big potted hibiscus plants covered with beautiful huge hot pink blooms.

My husband laughed and asked, "Is that the secret to getting that thing to look like that – a good jolt of caffeine?

"Sort of," I told him. "I don’t think it’s the caffeine that makes it flower so profusely. It’s the acid in the coffee."



Hibiscus, geraniums, and African violets all love acidic soil, so I guess coffee is like a B-vitamin shot for plants. It gives them a big burst of energy (or acid, in this case) and they flower like crazy.



Check to see which of your flowering plants thrive in acidic soil. Then, give them a cup of coffee (or even more than a cup, for a large plant) to encourage dozens of blooms.

Of course, you can also give your plants a regular dose of the appropriate plant food. I do that a couple of times each summer, too. But it's kind of nice to share your morning coffee with your flowering plants.

Try it.

They'll love it.

And they won't even ask for cream or sugar.